The American Dream.

As a child growing up in America we're generally given this preconceived notion of "The American Dream" and that living it is the ultimate goal that you could ever achieve. As we grow older we come to realize that this idealistic dream is not quite as easy to live as once thought. But that begs the question, "What exactly is this American dream?" According to James Truslow Adams in 1931, the American dream meant that "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement"


That's all great and good but today there are so many standards that our society has set that are either completely outdated or near impossible to reach. We've put this "American Dream" on such a high pedestal that it's like scaling Mount Everest to get to it. Everything we do we have to justify in a way that it becomes one more stepping stone toward reaching this practically unattainable goal. But why are we in such a hurry to live a dream that others have created for us? And will it really bring happiness to achieve it?


Well I propose a new dream to live. Your own dream! Break the mold of these old fashioned ideals. Design your own standards of living regardless of society's ridiculous norms. Create goals that are unique to yourself and set out to achieve them in only a way that you can. Don't let yourself be discouraged by obstacles that you may have to overcome along the way and always make sure you learn from any mistakes made. Be completely true to yourself and when someone asks you how you're doing today, you can look at them and say, "I'm living the dream! My dream!"

(Painting is MY dream, and I'm living it!)