When did dreaming become a bad thing? Did I miss a meeting? Maybe the email went straight to my junk mail folder?.. I don’t know what’s going on, but why are we encouraging each other away from our dreams and toward socially-acceptable behaviour, one that is a product of supply and demand, superficial and mutually beneficial relationships, status (and caste), and MTV-induced fantasies?!

The more I travel, the more I realize that the possibilities are endless. I’ve seen a million different people, each with a different lifestyle – one that was made and is being reinforced at each step of their daily routine.

A long time ago, some of us just didn’t stand a chance. You were born a poor peasant and you were sure gonna die that way. There was no internet, no free education, no opportunity – you wouldn’t even get to see how those “better off” than you were living. Things have changed, however.

Now, if you’d like to live by the beach but are born in a desert, it’s a problem but not an UN-fixable one. The catch is: You must get off your ass to do it. Sitting at home, waiting for a beach to drop from the sky next to your house might not quite get you there. Maybe that’s the only “fair” way – only the strong ones persevere. That is how we evolved, no? You gotta fight for what you want.

Last year around Christmas time, I was an exhausted grad student in cold central Canada, working hard at plugging equations into each other, calculating elasticities of demand, discussing exchange rates and memorizing properties. During those moments, going away to a warm place was often a “dream” of mine – one I would resort to after a long day at the library, or during a walk home on a really, really cold day (I’m talking -50C cold!). One year later, I am here, sitting on my balcony that is overlooking a pool, drinking wine and watching the sunset.. It feels good to think, “Wow I’m really here”.

I don’t say this to rub it in – on the contrary. I invite you all to do the same. Keep dreaming, my friends.. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. But, dreaming is not enough. Concentrate, work hard and do those things you dream of. I know it sounds like a bunch of bull coming from a motivational speaker, but it’s true.

Remember, though. You are standing in the way of your own future. Dreaming might “technically” be free, but it is time consuming. As an economist, I gotta tell you – in the long run, time is the most expensive commodity of all.