Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up? Maybe a fireman? A baker? A ballerina? Whether or not you still hold those childhood dreams of twirling about in a pink tutu or rushing off to extinguish a house fire, 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?

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

Failure, 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!

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,

“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.”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.