Much has influenced my decision to come back to school and pursue a doctoral degree. My particular passions require me to obtain a higher degree in order to be qualified to pursue them as a profession. However, if that were the sole reason for attending college and assimilating so much knowledge then I would be poorly motivated to succeed and do well, let alone actually enjoy the process. There has to be some driving force for what we do as individuals, or at least there ideally should be if we are to have any sort of contentment and satisfaction in life. All this is said with the understanding that not everyone is in a position which enables them to go off and pursue their dreams. I do believe that a family comes first and if there are children who depend on you, setting aside your dreams in order to provide them a better life is a noble endeavor. However, there are many who have very few actual limitations constraining their lives and it is to them that I address this challenge. Have a career, not simply a job.
A career is about working towards something your entire life. Ideally this career should incorporate your passions and dreams for the future so that you can be fulfilled with life on a daily basis. If all one ever does is "punch the time card" for the day and go home then that is eight or nine hours out of every day wasted on something you really don't care about. However if your time at work is enjoyable because you are always working towards professional and personal goals then maybe that part of your day away from your family need not be counted as wasted time.
My dream is to become a Physicist. Specifically a Mathematical/Theoretical Physicist who holds a Professorship at a University. More speculatively I also wish to obtain a Ph.D. in Mathematics as well as a Ph.D. in Physics. And finally I wish to present a portfolio of my work, after at least a decade of research, to the University of Cambridge and earn a Doctor of Science higher doctorate (D.Sc.). That initial dream of becoming a Physicist has driven me for a very long time and after my brief vacation from that pursuit I have returned refreshed and invigorated. I am set on becoming who I have always wanted to become. I will achieve that goal no matter how difficult the road or how long it takes. I have to, because I promised myself that I wouldn't settle for less. And as I mentioned above I have other goals (specifically obtaining a D.Sc.) that I wish to spend my life and my career pursuing. I believe that enjoyment and happiness in life can be experienced in not only the attainment of lofty goals, but simply the pursuit of said goals.
Now we all had dreams as children, maybe it was to become a fireman or an astronaut or maybe a teacher. Some people achieve these dreams and others do not, for various reasons. Sometimes dreams are not actualized because they are not practical, or life just didn't "work out that way." But behind every dream, I believe, lies a passion which inspired that dream in the first place. I contest that even if a dream in unattainable those underlying passions can still be fostered. Maybe that is through a different career or maybe it is simply though personal development. If a person was unable to become an astronaut then they could still learn about the stars and space and the universe. Even if they had to work a factory job to support their family they could build model rockets with their children and read books about cosmology. Our deeply rooted passions are central to who we are and their nurture is an important component to our personal contentment with life.
My hope is that everyone would dare to envision dreams of grandeur and have the courage to dedicate themselves unflinchingly to the task of achieving those aspirations. Never stop dreaming and certainly never stop striving towards the passions which have grasped hold of your very being. Our true passions should be the driving force of everything we do and everything we wish to become.
“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
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