Don't Stop Dreaming and Believing

Since I was a child, the thought of being in the limelight never failed to catch my fancy. Performers, television hosts, radio personalities and even actors were just some of the people I looked up to back then.

There is no denying that I grew up as a very ambitious child and I feel no shame in saying so. Since I don’t pay taxes for my dreams, it’s better to dream big. After all, there’s nothing to lose when all else fails. In fact, scanning my high school year book can already be enough proof to describe how ambitious I can be at times. “I want to be a famous actor” answers the question about my ambition based on my yearbook. Ironic describes my reaction right after reading it, four years past the birth of my yearbook. I was huge back then, which probably was the reason behind why it was ironic for me. However, the irony didn’t seem to stop me from dreaming and I knew nothing else could hinder me from aiming further but myself.

High school didn’t really turn out to be the perfect avenue for me to prove that I can have my own fair share of achievements I could contribute and share with my family. The four years spent was more of like fun on top of knowledge-seeking. I was the ordinary school boy/brat who goes to school, talks a lot in class, hangs out with peers, and worst, the mediocre student whose life was not pointed at any particular direction. In short, I was a total nobody back then, no achievements, nothing to brag and be proud of. But along the way, I experienced a major realization and that was the thought that life doesn’t end there. For as long as I exist, it’s not yet too late to make a 360-degree turn and make the most out of what is given to me.

My first few years in college seemed to me as a no-brainer. Nothing as significant and extravagant as expected arose that much or maybe it was just mere mediocrity that prompted me to say so. Still, direction was nowhere to be seen in the situation and I was already losing grip on the high hope of experiencing something life-changing. Though the mindset that I was a person with no achievements was at its peak that time, I continued to dream. It came to me in a shock when somebody sat down with me and talked about me, my attitude and my life. I felt the urge for honesty that time and decided to call myself a non-achiever in front of that person. It took me more than an hour to let his words sink into my consciousness especially those that said “it’s not that you’re not an achiever, it’s just that you don’t notice that you have some.” That instance was exactly what I was waiting for years already. It somehow felt like a slap of reality to me and if there is one thing I learned about it, the thought that we need to be slapped on the face occasionally to be able to wake up would be it. From that time on, I started to dream more. Weeks after, I decided to list down a checklist of goals before I leave the portals of Silliman University. The checklist includes: to become a regular Radio Personality of Killer Bee 95.1, be part of the Luce Auditorium Corpse of Ushers and Usherettes, join the Debate Society, become a Campus Ambassador and the most ambitious of all, host Miss Silliman.

Months after, the name Jayvee became familiar to a lot of listeners of Killer Bee. I then started a life of a radio personality. It was the first time I treated an achievement as it is because I then knew that not everybody can be given the opportunity to be a radio personality. Then I said to myself “one down, four more to go.” Five months later another opportunity came, an opportunity that didn’t even give me an option to say no. It was to be the news editor of the Weekly Sillimanian. Though it wasn’t part of my personal checklist, I accepted the challenge. Thereafter, I became oblivious for a moment that it was actually another achievement for me.

The rain of good things didn’t stop as UTV, the only television talk show in the Visayas produced and directed by students, opened its doors for me. Being the floor emcee of the said talk show made me realize one thing: good things come to those who wait.

Not so long after, I was requested to host Miss Silliman. It felt like being on cloud nine the time I grabbed the offer. For a lot of people, it may not be so much of a big deal but for me, it is. Years before, I used to be among the audience cheering for a certain candidate. But during that day, I was seen holding the microphone and hosting the oldest campus-based beauty pageant. The 25^th of August will always remind me that I once achieved a dream that I thought would remain as such.

Today, I no longer see myself as the old lousy, mediocre non-achiever. Everybody is actually an achiever if people just look deeper into the real essence of life. One doesn’t need to cross bridges and oceans to attain achievements for even the simplest success stories can spur into attaining the biggest achievements.

All it takes is just patience coupled with determination. My existence and yours per se is already an achievement. For a lot of students, getting good grades, excelling in co-curricular activities already mean achievements. Look around and see that you yourself are an achiever. Once you start dreaming, make sure to make it grand and do not ever question its probability for nobody is a master of the future but the creator Himself.

Never stop dreaming and believing because dreams do come true.