All men dream

Some days the size of what I'm trying to accomplish in grad school seems overwhelming. A giant gorilla sitting on my chest, squeezing the last breath out. I think about what needs to happen and how that still seems so far off, and I get tiny panic attacks.

Other days, the world seems full of possibility, waiting for me to reach out and grasp the juicy success I've been craving.

The rest of the time, I sit at my desk, slogging through the grind of real research and wondering when I will finally get my ticket out.

One of the best realizations in the recent years has been the transfer of theoretical "knowledge" that you just have to "do it" like the Nike slogan says, to the core understanding that the worst thing that could happen when you try something is that it doesn't happen the first time. Maybe that's partly what research teaches you. But it's also what helps separate those who live out their dreams, and the proletariat that watches those people with envy.

"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to find it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." T.E. "Lawrence of Arabia"