Jalebi Ink

By Zoe Subbiah, 16

I’ve been dancing for three years now. It hasn’t always been easy. Dancing is a lot of hard work but it’s worth it. I’m now on a Basic Intermediate Level. Dancing is my life and everything I think about but my parents don’t approve. Journalism is my back up option if dancing doesn’t work out. My parents insist I focus on journalism instead. But how will I know if I don’t try first? They don’t understand the passion I have for dancing. It dominates my heart and I just NEED to dance. I’ve fought with my parents a lot about it but I am going to try before I give up and follow what my head says instead of what my heart does. For all I know, I may become a great dancer and choreographer. I just have to try.

Our time on earth is limited. We aren’t going to live forever. We can’t waste our time living somebody else’s life. Don’t live by the thoughts and opinions of others. Follow your heart, your dreams, your intuition. When you give up your dreams, a piece of you dies. Only you know what you want to make of your life, everything else is secondary.

I believe when you love something, you should go for it. If you follow your heart and do what you love, success will follow.

Parents sometimes tell us “You can follow your dreams someday. This is more important”

When is ‘someday’? We never know when we are going to die. There is no guarantee that we will have a tomorrow where we can follow our dreams.

They tell us we’ll be in a fix if it doesn’t work out.

How do we know if it’s going to work out or not if we don’t risk it? We just have to have faith and leap in, sometimes.

Some say it’s impossible.

If we love it that much, I think we can MAKE it possible. Nobody can stop you from following your dreams except yourself.

Everybody says that only a lucky few make it.

Those “lucky” ones made it because they followed their hearts and DID something about it. They didn’t let others’ opinions dominate their heart.

There’s always that nagging feeling that we’re going to fail somehow.

So what if you fail a couple of times? Not everybody is perfect. Failure truly is the stepping stone to success and we can’t let that fear rule our lives.

Following our dreams may be scary sometimes, because we never know what’s going to happen. But in the end, nothing is more gratifying than following your dreams and knowing that you MADE it. It may be a lot of hard work but all we can do is be true to ourselves and success will come through our passion.