Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Become Your Dream!!!

I’ve lived on the Upper East Side for about a year and a half now. Throughout this time, I’ve continually stumbled upon the following message:

“Become Your Dream”

Someone writes these words throughout my neighborhood… sometimes with chalk on the sidewalk, or sometimes in magic marker on old pieces of furniture that have been thrown out with the trash on the street. The words are usually accompanied by the drawing of a little fishy. Below are a few examples of what I’ve seen over the past year and a half…


















Every time I stumble across this phrase, I feel inspired and empowered. I feel as though this message is written specifically to me. It may sound a bit crazy, but I’ve even wondered to myself if other people can even see the words or if it’s all just a vision taking place in my head.

So today, I googled “Become Your Dream” and I discovered that I’m not the first person to stumble across these messages written all throughout the Upper East Side. I found out that the concept began with an artist named James De La Vega. The origin of the fishy is from an image that De La Vega continually uses in his artwork depicting a fish jumping out from its fish bowl. It seems that De La Vega has been responsible for writing thought-provoking words all throughout the city for a number of years. There is even a museum of his work in the East Village. I don’t believe that all of the writings are necessarily written by De La Vega. In fact, I would wager that a number of people become inspired by his message and take initiative to spread the word on their own. How cool would it be if this movement really took off? Imagine kids, in neighborhoods all throughout the country writing on the sidewalk and on trashcans: “Become Your Dream!” I wonder if it was De La Vega’s dream to inspire and motivate others to become their dream… If so, his dream is really coming true!

This message has truly inspired me to take action and to become my dream! So I’m going to do it! Now, I just need to figure out what my dream is…

I know I want to become my dream, the hard part is trying to figure out which dream to choose. One thing is for sure- I can’t wait around much longer trying to figure it out! So, I’ve decided… I’m giving myself just until the New Year before I make a concrete decision to go after something specific.

To be continued…

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