Dwelling on Dreams

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that."

-Albus Dumbledore

This is my first real post that isn't just a poem, so we'll see how it goes. As I was packing for my trip to Korea, I realized that I needed a book for the plane ride, layover, etc. I looked through my bookshelf, trying to find the perfect book. Life had been pretty chaotic recently with all the goodbyes and end of the year activities, so I felt like reading a relaxing fantasy novel. My eyes immediately moved towards the Mortal Instruments trilogy. They were by my favorite author (Cassandra Clare), and they were some of my very favorite books. I decided against these books however. The main reason was that I thought it would be exhausting to read the whole trilogy again at this time, and also I had read them pretty recently. I looked towards the Harry Potter books on the next shelf, immediately my interest was caught. I had only read the first couple of novels in the series through once, and that had been several years ago when I was a wee lad of ten or so. I picked up the first two books in the series and stowed them in my bag. As I read through Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on the way to Korea, the quote at the beginning of this post lept out at me. It is a quote by Albus Dumbledore that is directed to Harry when Dumbledore finds him sitting in front of the mirror of Erised night after night, gazing at the reflection of his dead parents in the mirror. It's pretty debatable whether or not dreaming is good for you or not. I for one (speaking as a dreamer myself) have always thought that you could just dream away and it would be pretty much harmless. This quote awoke me to the realization that this is not always so. It's possible to be so caught up in your dreams and to spend so much time dreaming that everything around you just passes you by and you miss all of the joys of life. This is what Dumbledore is advising against in the quote. I definitely struggle with this a lot. I spend most of my time in a dream world. I often escape to this dream world when I'm doing something I'd rather not be doing or wasn't my choice to be doing. Because of this, I end up missing things and not really living through each experience as it should be lived through. I guess it's just another thing to be worked on. I don't think dreaming is always harmful, I actually think it can be really beneficial. Like anything though, it needs moderation, and like the quote says, it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Truly living should take place over dreaming. Dreams can be magical, but life can be even more so, after all, life is the real deal.