When water rushes down a stream, it carries with it my favourite sound. One that is tied to a memory.

The memory of a girl by a fountain, who wished for a dream. This was when I had first fallen in love with psychology - enchanted by the promise of an embracing calm that would come if I listened closely to the way water moves down the streams of a fountain. I had left that day with a hope that quickly blossomed within me; already realising then and there the beginnings of what would then become my dream.

I am still that girl. This is still my dream. And I am now one year away from realising it.

As I near the end of my degree, questions come up of where I would go - questions to which I have found I have many changing answers. But the more halting ones are those that ask me what happens next. Once I come to the end of this six year dream, what happens next?

I've been thinking about this for a while. And then I came upon a rerun of one of my many favourite movies.

There is a scene in the movie Tangled where Rapunzel asks what happens if her dream doesn't turn out the way she had always imagined - and then, more pressingly, what happens if it does? What happens after the dream that you've had for so long comes true?

(And this is my favourite part).

"You get to find a new dream."

These words have stuck with me ever since.

Six long years I've spent pouring so much of me into this dream that I am living now; six long years of this unwavering drive and certainty of this dream of mines. Everything from the moment I found this dream, to this moment I am a year away from realising it, has been for me to live out this dream and little to me has mattered except for me to achieve it, without realising that one day, it would come to an end.

And it will, as all things do. The same way things have beginnings, they also have their endings.

But here's the thing: at the end of one story comes the start of another. This story started with a girl, a fountain and her wish from it for a dream. And now, almost at the last legs of this dream, I get to find a new dream.

And so this is the answer to the halting questions that ask what happens next: to find a dream after this dream.

I am getting close to the end of my degree. I have many questions and twice as many unsettled and ever-changing answers. But I am still that girl. The one by the fountain who had wished for a dream. And now, I will, once again, let the calm of its sound embrace me to find a dream after my dream, one year away from realising it.

So now when water rushes down a stream and carries with it my favourite sound, it will be tied not only to a memory, but also to a promise.

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the girl who wished for a dream, an epilogue + some questions & reflections 🎕

studying psychology has long been a dream of mine - and perhaps, the biggest one I've had, along with being a writer. and I have worked towards it for years, held on to it, cried and fought for it. and now here I am, almost at its end. it's like coming to the end of a really good book and realising you've spent so much time and love on it and that it has filled up a space that would then, in its absence, be a gaping empty hole - one that is hard to fill.

it is easy to forget that there is more waiting for me beyond this dream, the same way that you may forget that there is more waiting for you behind yours. this is story that I have come for and a reminder for myself and for you: don't stop dreaming or let go of the dreams you have now, but rather be hopeful and make space for the dreams that have yet to come - because they will come, In sha Allah (God Willing), and those dreams will need you when they do.

How about you? How will you come for the story today? What are some dreams that you have that you long to come true? 

Are there are any flowers for the taking that you would like to share, too? Stories or videos or quotes that you feel are related to this piece? Share them with me in the comments; I'd love to hear from you!