Are you following your dreams? ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello.

This is 6 Minute English from

BBC Learning English.

I’m Neil.

And I’m Beth.

When I was a boy, I wanted to be

a fireman when I grew up.

How about you, Beth?

Did you have

any childhood dreams?

I wanted to be an astronaut

and fly to the Moon…

When we’re young most of us have

big dreams and plans for the future.

Unfortunately, as we grow up these

childhood dreams often get lost in the

adult world of jobs, money,

families and careers.

But not for everyone…

Daisy, from New Zealand, and, Herman,

from Argentina are two

people who decided

to follow their childhood dreams.

They

wanted the world to become a utopia – a

perfect, ideal society where everyone is

happy and gets along with each other.

In this programme, we’ll be hearing how

Daisy and Herman made their dreams

come true – not by changing the world,

but by changing themselves.

And, as usual,

we’ll be learning some new vocabulary too.

But before that I have a question

for you, Beth.

Following your dreams can

be tough, but not following them can leave

you regretting all the things you wanted

to do but didn’t.

In 2012, Australian nurse,

Bronnie Ware, wrote her bestselling book,

The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, after

interviewing terminally ill patients about

their life regrets.

So, what do you think

their top regret was?

Was it:

a) I wish I hadn’t worked so hard?

b) I wish I had followed my dreams?

or

c) I wish I’d made more money?

Well, I’ll guess it’s b) they wish they

had followed their dreams.

OK, Beth.

I’ll reveal the correct answer

at the end of the programme.

The first dreamer we’re going to meet lives

in Riverside, a peace-loving community in

New Zealand where everyone shares

everything.

Riverside members work for

the community’s businesses, including

a farm, a hotel and a café.

All the money they

earn is collected and shared

between everyone equally.

Daisy, who was born in East Germany,

joined Riverside in 2004.

Here she explains

her belief in sharing to BBC

World Service programme, The Documentary.

What I think I always believed in is that

the sharing of resources can provide

a group of people with quite a great

advantage, but it doesn’t matter how

many hours you work or what work

you do, everyone is getting the

same amount.

And that is something

that many people outside of

Riverside struggle with, and where

we’re often getting this ‘communism’

label attached to us, because it’s so…

it seems so outlandish for people.

Riverside isn’t a communist community.

In fact, people with many different political

views live there.

But Daisy says that local

people struggle with the idea that

everything is shared.

If you struggle with

an idea, you find it difficult to

accept or think about it.

Daisy also says some local people

call Riverside outlandish –

strange and unusual.

Our second group of dreamers are

a family - the Zapps.

In 2000, childhood

sweethearts, Herman and Candelaria Zapp,

bought a vintage car and set off

from Argentina to travel around

the world with less than 3.500 dollars

in their pockets.

Twenty-two years and

three children later they have visited

over a hundred countries, meeting

with countless people and

experiences on the way.

Here, Herman Zapp explains to BBC

World Service’s, The Documentary, how

following his dream has

changed him for the better.

I am so happy with the Herman there is now,

that I know now – not the one who

wanted to conquer the world, but the one

who was conquered by the world.

I learn

so much from people, and it’s

amazing how the more you meet people,

the more you know stories, how

much more humble you become because

you notice that you are a beautiful, tiny

piece of sand, but a very important piece

of sand like everyone is, right?

After many years travelling, meeting

new people and hearing their stories,

Herman is more humble – not proud or

arrogant.

He no longer wants to

conquer the world – to control it by force;

rather, he has been conquered

by his experiences.

Herman compares himself to a beautiful

but tiny piece of sand and uses the phrase

'a grain of sand' to describe things which

are insignificant in themselves, but

at the same time are an important

part of the whole.

Daisy and Herman are rare examples

of dreamers who followed their dream

and found a happy life, lived without

regret – which reminds me

of your question, Neil.

Yes, I asked about Bronnie Ware’s book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.

What do you think the number one regret was, Beth?

I guessed it was b) not following your dreams.

Which was the right answer!

Not having

the courage to follow your dreams was

listed as the top life regret.

At least we

have people like Daisy and Herman

to remind us dreams can come true!

OK, let’s recap the vocabulary from

this programme, starting with

'utopia' – a perfect world where

everyone is happy.

If you 'struggle with an idea',

you find it difficult to accept.

The adjective, outlandish, means

strange and unusual.

'To conquer' something means

to control it by force.

Someone who is 'humble' is

not proud or arrogant.

And finally, the phrase 'a grain of sand'

describes something which is both

insignificant yet somehow important.

Once again, our six minutes are up.

Bye for now!

Goodbye!