I remember watching Lupita Nyong’o’s Oscar acceptance speech in 2013. She had just won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Patsey in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave. Clad in a flowing, Nairobi blue Prada gown, the Kenyan starlet eloquently acknowledged those that helped to convert her acting dream into a reality. She closed the awe-inspiring speech by saying: 

“When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.”

My dreams are valid? Interesting. 

You see, this aspect of Nyong’o’s speech struck a chord with me, because dreams are seldom considered valid. Dreams are often romanticized, likened unto esoteric visions and amorphous desires. Disney fairytales tell us that  “A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleep.” I love fairytales, but they are just that: fairytales. Fairytales are make-believe. My dreams, however, are real. 

How does one convert a dream into a reality? How are they validated? I’ve asked myself this question many times. I now realize that there is no clear answer. There is no GPS that can navigate us toward our dreams.  The path toward validating dreams is a unique, introspective journey. The first step toward validating these dreams is writing them down. 

The concept of writing is far from groundbreaking, but we often overlook its potency. Not only is writing an ideal form of cognitive exercise–research shows that it engages memory and motor skills–it is, perhaps, one of the most effective and underestimated forms of self-reflection. The physical act of writing can foster the materialization of dreams. These reified dreams can then become measurable goals. Some of the greatest contributions to society started as written concepts. The aforementioned Oscar-winning film, 12 Years a Slave, started as a script. Before Netflix became a dominating streaming service, it was a written business plan. Writing is an essential component of setting and meeting goals. 

We can write down our dreams in a spiral notebook, or a on a blog post. We can jot down our goals on a whiteboard, or a Microsoft Word document. It doesn’t matter how the writing is done…as long as it is done. 

Sometimes, we may lose sight of our dreams. Writing them down will help to keep us in check. I am in the process of converting my dreams into reality; but I am writing them down, validating them along the way.