Dream Bigger Dreams

As early as I can remember, there have been two items at the top of my bucket list. Anytime a question about future goals, dreams, and accomplishments was asked, I could confidently answer:

1. Work on a legitimate film set, with a notable cast and crew

2. Go on a solo trip to Paris and stay for a minimum of two months.

These always felt like sizable dreams and that they’d be on my list for quite a while. I’m very lucky in that I have always been well traveled, but I had never been able to make it to my soul-city, Paris. I’ve also always been incredibly interested in the film industry and have been involved in different aspects of filmmaking, but being on a Hollywood-sized, Hollywood-quality, film production seemed like a reach. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected that in a span of five months, at just 22 years old, I would be able to take a pen and confidently cross both dreams off the list.

Those five months were the most incredible, indescribable, and soul-completing times of my life. I graduated college, was offered an incredible position on the film set (that I was quite honestly very unqualified for) in California’s Central Coast for two months with a very experienced crew and very notable actors. I gave that set everything I had, quickly learned the ropes, and created the most incredible relationships. I was thriving. The experience was unlike anything I’d ever experienced—a true dream come true. As the project ended, I saved most of my paychecks, and a week later was on a flight to Paris for eight weeks straight.

I can’t even begin to explain those five months. With the film about to be released to theaters, and my constant love for Parisian culture shining through my everyday life, I get asked about my time on set and in Paris quite frequently. The problem is, I never have an answer. There is no way to sum up either experience into a few sentences. It was absolute and complete serenity, freedom, challenging, hard work, and fulfillment bottled up into a single season in life. I have pages and pages of journal entries from my time in both, but I still just can’t come up with the words to explain the magic of it all.

Maybe a lot of that comes from the fact that now they are done. They are both a part of my life that for so long was a longing dream and desire. Now that they’ve both been accomplished, there’s a weird void that accompanies the feeling of fulfillment. This was a magical time, and now it almost feels like I dreamt it all up. That it can’t already be over. It sometimes feels as if I have lived the best part of my life… and now what?

But why do we think that way? Why is it engrained in me that just because those were my dreams for so long that I can’t go up from here? The real question should be: Why didn’t I dream bigger in the first place? And why don’t I start dreaming bigger now? There are so many more film sets that I can be a part of, and so many more times I’ll be able to go to Paris, and explore other areas and cultures in the world. I should stretch my potential, think bigger, and expand upon those dreams.

We’re taught when we’re young to dream big, and that we can do and be anything we want, but then somewhere along the way we give up those dreams of becoming the President or an actress, living in a castle, or going to the moon, and we settle for the easily obtainable. The bigger dreams get laughed at, shot down and ridiculed, so we settle for manageable, realistic things in our life. Just like what I did with these two goals. Why not believe in yourself, put in the work, and do it what it takes to accomplish the big dreams?

I for one can’t wait to be on afilm set in Paris working on a passion project with an amazing cast and crew that eventually leads me to accepting an Academy Award. You heard it here first!

Dream bigger every day.