Page Chen, G9, RDF International School

Dreams are the stories the brain tells during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep. People typically have multiple dreams each night that grow longer as sleep draws to a close. Over a lifetime, a person may dream for five or six full years. Have you ever had bad dreams? Well, I had one very sad dream that I couldn’t forget.

I dreamed that I had lost about everything, including my good grades, honors, friends and even my family. I was so shocked when I dreamed about it. I sat up for a second and was able to realize what was going on. That was awful, because in that dream, all my good grades disappeared. I lost my honors and became upset all day long. I lost my friends and no one would care about me. No one was there to encourage or console me. I lost my family so that even there was no one loving me! I cannot imagine what life was going to be like if that dream were true.

That dream got me thinking about the past and future. It reminds me of my past. For each of us, there were and there are going to be a lot of trying moments and hard times. When that happens, we often feel upset, disappointed and gloomy.

Psychology research has repeatedly shown that emotions are always affecting our choices. Positive emotions bring benefits to our decisions.

We are all going to face some kind of hardships along the way. But we have to adapt ourselves and be strong when we are on our own. When we are losing something, we should just think about what we have.

When we fail to do well in an exam, we can look at what we have achieved in the past and pluck up courage to work harder so that we can do better next time.

When we and our friends go separate ways, we can find comfort in the idea that we still have our loving family around. The challenges can be nothing if we have enough courage.

If you think you’ve lost everything, then the good news is that you have nothing else to lose.

Just rely on yourself, chase your dreams, and try to be happy every single day.