Hello Everyone,
Welcome to The Invisible Vision Project’s Blog.
Dreams don’t always come true. That’s the reality of life, also a part of life. Even though, dreams don’t always come true, it’s still important to have them. When we have dreams, we also have ambitions and forces to keep us moving forward. In today’s blog, I’m sharing with you 3 of my dreams, that are also my careers goals I’ve set for myself, that either won’t ever or aren’t coming into reality, at least in this phase of my life.
My first dream is the dream of becoming a school teacher. Since I was probably in 3rd grade, I dreamt of becoming a school teacher, just like my teachers. I had a still have huge admirations toward educators such as school teachers or academic professors. Most of them, at least the majority of my teachers I’ve had were great educators. Most have been very caring towards their students, and they also taught well. Because of this kind of admiration I have for teachers, this influenced and motivated me to become a teacher, after all, they are my role models. However, later on in life, I realized certain factors that might make teaching a challenging job for me, especially a part of that challenge is because of my disability (and now, also my chronic illness). Here, I’m not suggesting that people with disabilities cannot be great teachers, there are many ways to make a classroom more adaptive and accessible, if needed be. And besides, I think having a teacher with disability can enhance students’ learning. But, being a good teacher not only needs to teach well, it’s also a quite demanding and sometimes intensive job, and from that perspective, it just won’t work for me.
Then, when I discovered that I couldn’t be a teacher, even though it’s been a dream since I was young, I was actually not too upset about that. In part because, I already had different career goals in mind. Some of you may know this, if you read my blog regularly or know me in person, you probably know that I have completed two undergraduate degree in university. I did that because my first degree was not sufficient enough for me to get into grad school. At the time I started my second degree, I wanted to apply to grad school right after finishing my program. However, this dream is now put on hold, a significant part (if not all) of it, is because of my current health situation. As I’ve used just about every ounce of my energy to complete and graduate from university, 2 months ago. So, it really wouldn’t be wise to start school right away.
During the past 3 years I was completing my second undergrad in university, I also started working in a new field, as a (disability and social justice) activist and a blogger. I enjoy what I do very much. It’s been more than a hobby, beyond a passion, and it almost felt like a “calling.” I was almost certain and had plans to start my own business after graduation. I truly and really want to be a professional motivational speaker. I think speaking is more suitable for me than writing, however I do enjoy blogging nonetheless. Immediately after I graduated and once I know I wasn’t going to go back to school anytime soon, I started exploring ways to start a small business. I looked into resources to start a small business, also sources of funding as well-since finance is one of the biggest barriers and challenges for me, as a recent university grad. I had also looked into business registration, and even a potential new look or design for my blog site. Because of the past few years, I’ve been actively volunteering at different local and national charities, I know that a lot of their funding come from various donors, and I thought, there has to be financial resources out there that support new small business owners. then, I quickly realized how naïve I was. Certainly, there are resources, funding and such, but as for finance part, they usually come with a loan, and not grant. At that point, I felt very defeated, and helpless, for quite a long while. I felt that this entire world was against me, that nobody can grant this helpless and defeated young woman with disability to make her dream of becoming a small business owner come true. But then, I re-gathered myself and my thoughts and said to myself, “It doesn’t matter if I can’t work professionally in the field I’m so passionate and dedicated in; it doesn’t matter if I’m not starting a business and earning an income right after graduation. If activism and blogging is something I love and enjoy doing, I should just continue as it is, just as I have been.”
Hence, the moral of this blog, or at least the message I want to convey through writing this blog is that: Dreams don’t always come true, and that’s OK. Dreams are also likely to change overtime as we grow. And sometimes, this change can be something that’s totally out of our control (with life changes such as ill health/disability, or family responsibility, etc). Also, some dreams don’t come true, and they may never come true. But others, they don’t come true at a certain phase in our lives, but they might later on. For instance, at this current phase of my life, I could either study in grad school or start my own business, but maybe in a few years, this could change. What’s important is to always do your best, and do what you love. Also, don’t give up.
By: The Invisible Vision Project
The Invisible Vision Project 
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