Do you ever find yourself drifting into thoughts about all those dreams you once held tightly? The forgotten dreams that hover just at the edge of your consciousness, waiting patiently like yellowing pages of a beloved novel, gathering dust in the corners of your mind? It’s peculiar how fiercely we once clung to them, how they glowed brightly and vividly, only to dissolve into mere shadows over time. Sometimes, I reflect on my own lost dreams, those countless aspirations that now sit forgotten, collecting dust.

There was a time when they demanded every ounce of my attention. I chased them with relentless fervour, pouring every drop of myself into their pursuit, only to wake one day and realise they had slipped through my fingers like grains of sand. Some faded quietly, swallowed by the relentless demands of life, while others diminished because, somewhere along the way, I lost faith. Or perhaps more honestly, I lost faith in myself.

And then, there’s time, the cruel thief of all things. Those precious hours we squander chasing what we believe will fulfil us. It feels akin to pursuing a mirage in a vast desert, convinced that if we just run a little faster, we’ll finally catch that elusive ‘something’ that promises to fill the void within us. The sheer amount of time I’ve lost, and all the energy poured into dreams that never bore fruit—I mourn that. We grieve our dead dreams as we would old lovers, forever wondering—what could have been?

And speaking of love, the forgotten romances. Those fleeting moments when you feel as though you’ve found someone. The one. The intense connection, the late-night conversations, when you’re convinced that those moments will somehow last forever. But eventually the flame burns out. Just like those dusty forgotten dreams, it is fleeting.

They become distant memories—shadows of who you once were and who you envisioned yourself becoming. A stranger now, carrying the weight of shared memories. Strangers whose laughter you might recognise from down the street, those you could spot from behind, their eyes which traced every inch of your being, minds filled with the secrets you once shared—only to turn a corner, into lives that no longer intersect with yours.

When those romances exit your life, they still linger in your thoughts from time to time. In the beginning, you spot their car wherever you go, think of them when you drive past their street, pondering if and when you might cross paths again. But gradually and inevitably, those places that once brimmed with their presence morph into mere locations. Years later, you find yourself tracing the outline of their smile in your mind, as the details of their face have softened in your memory over time until they’re nothing more than a dream you can’t quite grasp anymore. The realisation settles in that the lives you now lead are no longer intertwined with theirs—that, in truth, you don’t know this person anymore. You finally have that realisation that someone who once filled your world is now just another passer-by.

There’s a sad beauty in it all, letting go. In acknowledging that dead dreams and forgotten romances are part of your narrative, but they’re not the entire story. The hours spent, the time lost, the feelings felt—none of it is truly wasted. Perhaps those pursuits didn’t lead you to where you thought were going, but they shaped you into who you are today, even if that simply means being someone who knows loss, someone who understands love and the art of letting it go. Someone who dreamed so fervently only to come to terms with the realisation that those dreams may not be meant for you.

And maybe the most beautiful, courageous thing you can do, is to dream again, to love once more. With the knowledge that one day, that too might slip away. And when that day comes, we’ll be ready to mourn, ready to let go, and ready to do it all over again.

Thanks for reading, I hope this post resonated with you in someway. If you are interested in more posts like this make sure you subscribe so we can see each other again, would love to have you along for the ride

Sontag x