Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up? Maybe a fireman? A baker¹? A ballerina? You probably have some sort of idea what you ultimately want to do with your life. BUT are you actually doing it? Are you working towards it? Or have you given up all hope on your dreams with the burdens of daily life pulling you down?

你还记得自己梦想长大时做什么吗？消防员？烘焙师？芭蕾舞演员？你都可能对自己最终想做点儿什么还有些想法。但你真的在做吗？你是在朝着这个方向努力吗？还是你在生活的压力下已放弃了自己的梦想？

Pursuing your dreams comes along with many benefits! Here are some reasons why you should not give up on your dreams:

追随你的梦想可以带来很多益处！下面是你为什么不应该放弃梦想的几个理由：

1. Failure.

失败

This word seems counter-intuitive in reasons not to give up your dreams, but failure is more beneficial than you might think. Most people don’t pursue their dreams for fear of failure. Little do they know, this is one of the biggest ways we learn and grow!

把这个词当做不要放弃梦想的理由似乎有悖直觉，但是失败比你想象的要有用。大部分人都因为害怕失败而放弃追求梦想。殊不知，这是我们学习和成长的最好的一个途径！

Many famous and successful Americans had to fail over and over again to achieve what they hoped to in life. Abraham Lincoln failed at war, as a businessman, as a lawyer and even at politics at first. He pushed on through and became president of the United States. Thomas Edison’s teachers called him “stupid” and he was fired multiple times before “failing” 1000 times attempting to invent the lightbulb. Michael Jordan was once cut from his high school basketball team. He later said,

美国有很多著名的成功人士在追求他们想要的生活时都经历了一次又一次的失败。亚伯拉罕·林肯打战失败过，做商人时失败过，做律师时失败过，就连做政客时刚开始也失败过。他继续努力才成为美国总统。托马斯·爱迪生的老师曾说爱迪生“愚蠢”，他在发明电灯泡前失败了1000多次，在此之前，还被解雇了很多次。迈克尔·乔丹曾一度被高中篮球队除名。后来他说，

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot … and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed.”

“在我的职业生涯中，我有9000多个投球没有投中。我输的比赛几乎有300场。有26次，大家相信我能投入致胜的一球…..但是我没能。在我的生活中，我一次又一次地失败。这就是为什么我现在成功了。”

If we can learn anything from these successful men, it would be to never give up on our dreams simply because of fear of failure.

如果说我们能从这些成功人士身上学到些什么的话，那就是不要因为害怕失败而放弃梦想。

2. Persistence².

毅力

With that failure comes persistence. Persistence is something that can only be learned through hardships. If you never fall down, you can’t learn how to get back up. Each time we pick ourselves back up and forge through, we get a little bit stronger and more capable of achieving our ultimate goals.

失败会带来毅力。只有历尽艰辛，才会拥有毅力。如果你从未失败，你不会学会如何重新爬起来。每当我们重新振作前进时，我们都会更加坚强，更有能力去实现我们最终的目标。

3. It’s better to try and fail than to wonder what might have been.

尝试和失败比去猜想会发生什么要好的多

Have you ever regretted trying something in your life? Perhaps it was trying out for the school play. Or asking that special someone out on a date. That feeling of wondering what could have been might still eat at you even years down the road.

在你的生活中，你有没有后悔去尝试什么东西？也许是去尝试学校的演出。也许是邀请那个特别的人出去约会。如果不去尝试，那几年之后，那种去猜想会发生什么事的感觉可能仍然在折磨着你。

How do you avoid that feeling of regret? By trying. You don’t have to do something huge, but sitting down and making a plan with small steps on how you will achieve your dreams will start you off in the right direction. Little by little you will forge a path towards your goals.

如何能避免那种遗憾的感觉？尝试。你不必去做大事，但是坐下来，为如何实现梦想而制定一步一步的计划会让给你从正确的方向开始。渐渐地，你会找到通往目标的道路。

4. Successes along the way.

前进道路上的成功

If your dreams are big enough, you will have stepping stones of success along the way. Small achievements can be celebrated³. These small victories can help push you through to the next goal and soon enough, your dreams will be realized.

如果你的梦想足够大，那么在前进的路上，你会拥有成功的垫脚石。小的成就值得庆祝。这些小的胜利能把你推向下一个目标，不久你的梦想就会实现。

5. The pursuit.

追求

Many valuable experiences are found in the pursuit.Memories, friendships, skills, life lessons, love. Basically, life is what happens when we make our way towards a goal. Applying for that college which seems out of reach, we might meet our soul mate. In seeking for that promotion⁴, we might meet a best friend or mentor⁵. Signing up for that team, we might get to travel the world. In order to value the pursuit, we need to follow our dreams!

在追求的过程中，会有很多宝贵的经验。回忆、友谊、技能、生活经验和爱这些都是。基本上，生活就是我们朝着目标前进的路上所发生的事情。去申请对我们来说有点儿遥不可及的大学，我们可能会遇到自己的灵魂伴侣。在寻求提升时，我们可能遇到最好的朋友或导师。和那支球队签约，我们可能会周游世界。要想让追求超值，我们需要追随自己的梦想！

6. Success is often just around the corner.

成功往往就在眼前

If only you knew how close you were! If only you knew what an impact would be for one more phone call, one more interview, and just one more late night working on your passions. Often we give up far too soon. We can’t see what the future holds for us, but we sure can keep striving towards our dreams.

只要你知道离得有多近！只要你知道凭着激情再打一个电话、再进行一次面试、再多熬一次夜会带来什么样的影响。我们常常过早放弃。我们看不到未来是什么样子，但是我们能朝着梦想继续努力。

7. Setting an example.

树立榜样

Finally, if you have children (or might have them some day), you will be setting a good example. Do we want our children to tell stories about how comfortable we were sitting on our couch watching sitcoms⁶, or do we want to be remembered for the passion we had for life? Hopefully we can show the future generations what it means to chase after our dreams. Most importantly, in the words of Winston Churchill,

最后，如果你有孩子（或将来会有），你会为他们树立一个好榜样。我们想让孩子讲起我们时，说我们惬意地坐在沙发上看情景喜剧吗？还是我们因对生活的激情而被别人记住？希望我们可以告诉后代什么是追随梦想。最重要的是，用温斯顿·丘吉尔的话来说，

“Never Never Never give up.”

“永远永远永远都不要放弃。”