- Ashy Akakpo
Stop Dreaming & Wake Up!

I've always been known to have these huge dreams and aspirations. I've always been that "over dreaming" kid (and can I just say I still am), that one kid who'd constantly get caught staring out from windows and just thinking, what could be out there? What great adventures awaited me from outside the school walls? I've always been the one to want and aspire to have more from this life! Knowing I could be anyone if I put my heart into it! I had phases in which I wanted to be a movie star, a singing artist, a magician (imagine), a painter, a movie director, a comic writer, an explorer & even a stand up-comedian (I mean - I guess that can still happen). But after a lot of discouragement, primarily from the ones I expected to nudge me forward into my dreams and aspiration even as ridiculous as it seemed to them, I finally stopped dreaming for a while.
I listened to everyone else and convinced myself that I wasn't good enough to act, I wasn't smart enough to write, I wasn't confident enough to tell jokes to a room filled with people, I wasn't independent enough to travel the world. I genuinely believed it. All of it. Drilled it into the fragments of my mind. But then one night it hit me, whilst lying down in my bed, thinking about the course of my day, month - life (yeah I'm dramatic), I realised that everything negative that I had ever been told about myself didn't matter because it wasn't my truth. It was theirs. It wasn't like they were me, because they weren't. They were only threatened of the greatness I could achieve. They were threatened by my purpose and potential.
See, sometimes your dream becoming reality can scare people. Not because they're mean or anything - they're just unsure of themselves so they try and shut down anyone else around reaching for greatness. But even then, even if you stop listening to them and you no longer allow their words to prevent you from dreaming, you dreaming is only that. A dream. No substance. It's just an idea.

The magic only comes when that dream is cultivated, and watered to grow into something great. I have always enjoyed writing, seeing my thoughts on paper or on a computer screen has always excited me, which is why it has been a long time dream of mine to become a writer. However, it was only a dream, until I took the first step into making that dream blossom by making a blog and posting my thoughts for all the world to see, whether if it was through poetry, stories or whatever. One of my favourite quotes by Maya Angelou, a quote that has always resonated with me says, 'If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.' But in order for that fantasy to influence others, make a change and show your greatness, you must cultivate it. Plant that seed, water that seed and watch it blossom.
In order for that dream to become reality, sometimes we have to stop dreaming and wake up. If I hadn't woken up and started to work towards my dream of becoming a writer, me owning this blog would have never been a reality.
Remember don't just stay asleep, stop dreaming, wake up and turn those dreams into reality.
Ash x