Aurora Coltman
Silhouette Intern
During the summer break, I visited Japan on my own. But this is not another travel story. It’s actually about what happens after the adventure, when the adrenaline and the jet lag bring you straight back to a jarring reality of obstacles, stress and responsibility.
But let me finish my introduction. I visited Japan. Going there, I had a suitcase inside a suitcase, pre-emptively solving the problem of how to bring back an extra ton of souvenirs.
Among these souvenirs was a particularly treasured little item for myself. That item is a Daruma doll. Darumas are symbols of perseverance and good luck. Given as gifts, they are signs of encouragement.
However, there’s a certain trick to working the magic of a Daruma doll: you must paint an eye.
Yes, only one eye. Daruma dolls are typically given with blank eyes – entirely white. It is supposed to be that you make a wish, and when wishing on the Daruma doll, you paint one eye. When you fulfill that wish, you paint the second eye. And here’s a neat little tidbit: if you knock a Daruma doll over, it springs right back up. This is supposed to suggest that no matter where you’re going in life, you are somehow still on track in fulfilling your dream. You fall in life’s lows, but you always stand right back up.
A lot of people will probably scoff at that; label it unrealistic, a romantic notion.
And I sort of agree.
But the romanticism is what makes painting the eye so attractive: fulfilling a dream.
Most of you know by this point that it isn’t always the downs of life that drain the most – it’s recovering from those downs. Most of you out there don’t own your own little Daruma dolls; you don’t have a constant reminder that you’re on track with your dream - that you’re going to stand back up again.
Well, you’re probably most definitely scoffing now, am I right? But how about I share a little secret? I have a dream too, just like most of you. That doesn’t mean it’s a clear dream. It is by no means “I want two and half kids, a happy marriage, and a white picket fence.”
Firstly: heck no.
Secondly: there is so much more to my dream than clear-cut words. Mine’s a hazy little outline. Maybe to someday be not a paying guest at comic-cons and music festivals, but to someday be a guest, to be invited because someone somewhere happened to recognize talent among hard work and effort.
Which seems to me to be a near-impossible dream. But then again, if I don’t give it a shot, and if I don’t recover from the downs, I’ll never know.
So when you step out to pursue your dream, give it your best shot, and remember: always spring back up.
