All You Have to Do is Dream

It's uplifting to see people who not only chase their dreams but also manage to catch them. They are the world's happiest people.

Take the case of Nascel, who until today was part of the creative team I manage. As the work day ended (for them, at least) today, her brief stint with the company also ended and she pursues a different professional path altogether -- a more adventure-filled, and, definitely, action-packed career.

She leaves behind a somewhat more secure if not boring environment of the corporate stiffs for the chaotic and unpredictable world of the sports news business.

She has decided (she assures me she has thought about her decision a zillion times before SMS-ing that dreaded message that she is resigning) that 8-hour work shifts with 1 hour lunch breaks, impossible and nonsense marketing assignments and deadlines, British bosses, and insane office co-workers are not enough justifications for a chance to do something she has dreamed of doing since she first entered college. Not one thing in the office is valuable enough to make her rescind her decision to resign and instead stay and pass up a chance (the third chance, if truth be told) to fulfill a dream.

And that is the key word: DREAM.

People who fulfill their dreams are happy. People who follow their dreams are contented. People who act on their dreams are, in an essence, completed. And the fulfillment of a dream is not an end, mind you, but a springboard for a bigger, better and more satisfying dream.

Nascel dreams of becoming a sports writer. Her moving to one of the country's more popular broadsheet and having her name start appearing in the byline is a fulfillment of that dream. A few years down the road, she will dream to become the best there is in the sports writing business and there's no denying the fact that she has got what it takes to achieve that dream. You can bet your pwet on that as I've seen first-hand the potential this young girl has in spite of the giggles, the chuckles, the opinions, the pranks, the teasings, and the cheerful demeanor she perpetually exudes.

And as a way of thanking her for her months of service to the company, and on a more personal note, for her taking off some of the work load from my shoulders (which unfortunately fall on my shoulders anew until her replacement arrives), here are some nibbles of advice from your former boss:

• KEEP DREAMING: Dreams are your gasoline, your fuel. Never run out of dream. Once you achieve a dream, start dreaming of a new one. Dreams shape you, shapes your character. Without dreams, you're nothing but an empty shell living a pathetic excuse for a life.

• KEEP YOUR INTEGRITY: Never forget who you are nor that your parents raised you to become a good, honest, and fair person. The newspaper business has its share of nasty temptations -- resist them, defy them and as one clothing ad campaign has disseminated before -- BE YOURSELF!

• KEEP YOUR DEADLINES: While this is something not really new, I'm not referring to story deadlines but rather to your personal deadlines -- your personal life. Never get to engrossed with work and allow it to wallow up your personal time. While you may not have a specific work schedule to follow, you do have a life to live with your family and friends. Later on, when you get married, have kids and enter some state of domesticity, you'll understand why I grumble when there's a need to stay in the office for more than 8 hours.

• WATCH YOUR HEALTH: I'm telling you this early ... never take your health for granted. A decade down the road and you'll feel the ill effects of the early bodily neglects you've made. While gulping alcohol by the gallons is surely fun when you're in your 20s, its not the same case when your age is no longer available on your standard calendar month. Stay healty, keep away from vices and keep away from people with vices.

• CONSTANTLY CHALLENGE YOURSELF: Is there a better way of writing this story down? Is there a better slant or angle to this otherwise already magnificent piece? Is there a bloody way in Hell I can come up with a better headline? Always be on the lookout for improvement. Pick-up good working habits and tidbits of advice from the veterans but not their bad ones.

• KEEP YOUR ASS COVERED: You know what I mean. Always protect yourself from people who will envy your skills and talent and try to drag you down. Learn when to swing, and when to sway. Choose your battles, so they say, and know when to employ diplomacy. If you need to fight, make sure you're wearing steel plate armor +3 with +5 against idiots and never forget to protect your behind. If you're dealing with money, make sure you have the photocopies of the necessary documents.

• ALWAYS SMILE: You're already good at this but the stress of the work and the people around you might cause you to loose it. Remain optimistic. Keep the wrinkles away from the forehead and try to develop laugh lines instead. Laugh at people, laugh at yourself (secretly or your co-workers might just decide to let men in white haul you away), laugh away hurts and pains, and destructive criticisms.

Good luck with your dream and don't worry, we'll let you know when a certain Rodney has done another voice-over commercial for you to hear.