We all have dreams. Every seven-year-old boy wanted to be a baseball player when he grew up. Every seven-year-old girl wanted to be a ballerina when she grew up. However, at some point, we all let go of those fantasies and were forced to embrace reality in some form, forced to transform our fantasies into career options. At some point in our maturation process we all realize that a job is not just something that we do for enjoyment, but something which must, in fact, allow us to earn money. This is when the realistic jobs become paramount and the fantasies are left to gather dust in the toy chest alongside old Barbie dolls, building blocks and G.I. Joes.

What we often sacrifice when we switch our job selection is the opportunity to do something which we enjoy for a living. We do not allow ourselves to let our hobbies become our jobs. Often, these are the types of jobs that require a certain degree of innate talent, not just persistence and a college degree.

Perhaps we do not allow our hobbies to become our jobs as an act of self-preservation. We want to avoid the possibility that we may some day have to come to terms with the fact that we are actually not very talented at our chosen hobby. Or maybe, we fear that, by transforming our hobbies into jobs, they will in some way change form or lose meaning. Do we risk sapping them of their ability to bring us joy, as they are reduced to monotonous activities that must be executed in order to put food on the table?

For any or all of these reasons, we rarely let ourselves embrace "fantasy jobs" much beyond our graduations from elementary school. Those who do hold fast to these aspirations are the real risk-takers; they not only face the potential of repeated rejection, but also job insecurity and financial hardship. Perhaps that is why we harbor such fascination with and admiration for people who do attain the "fantasy job," the movie stars, the sports figures, the few that make it to the top. They are the ones who were willing to risk what we were unable or unwilling to risk. Some part of us always wishes that we could have made it to the top, too, leading to our idolization of celebrities. "If only I had stuck with it..." we say, reassuring ourselves that we had the necessary talent but lacked the necessary time and wherewithal. But we resign to saying, "I needed to grow up, to make money."

So, is it better to hold a secure, realistic job, living with the sneaking suspicion that you could have been the one with enough talent to make it? Or, is it better to take the risk, and face potential hardship on the path to a fantasy job? Each person has to decide for himself, I suppose, but those who make it will continue to be the risk-takers, and those who wish they took the risk will continue to admire them for it.

Perhaps, in the end, it is the risk-takers who strive for the fantasy jobs who are actually living in reality, while those who never took the risk, hold fast to the fantasy that they could have made it if only...