Are you following your dreams? ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello. This is a 6

minute

English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil. And I'm Beth. As a child, he wanted to be a firefighter when he grew up. What about you, Beth? Did you have any childhood

dreams

? I wanted to be an astronaut and fly to the Moon... When we are 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 was happy and got along with each other. In this show, we'll hear how Daisy and Herman made their dreams come true, not by changing the world, but by changing themselves. And, as always, we will also learn new vocabulary. But before that I have a question for you, Beth. Following

your

dreams can be difficult, but not following them can make you regret all the things you wanted to do but didn't. In 2012, Australian nurse Bronnie Ware wrote her best-selling book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, after interviewing terminally ill patients about their life regrets.

So what do you think was his biggest regret? Was it: a) I wish I hadn't worked so hard? b) Do I wish I had followed my dreams? or c) Would I have liked to have earned more money? Well, I guess it's b) they wish they had followed their dreams. Well, Beth. I will reveal the correct answer at the end of the program. The first dreamer we are going to meet lives in Riverside, a peace-loving community in New Zealand where everyone shares everything. Riverside members work for businesses in the community, including a farm, a hotel and a coffee shop.

All the money they earn is collected and distributed equally among everyone. Daisy, who was born in East Germany, joined Riverside in 2004. Here she explains her belief in joining the BBC World Service programme, The Documentary. What I always believed is that sharing resources can give a group of people a huge advantage, but no matter how many hours you work or what job you do, everyone gets the same amount. And that's something that a lot of people outside of Riverside struggle with, and where they often put this label of "communism" on us, because it's so... it seems so outlandish to people.

Riverside is not a communist community. In fact, people with many different political opinions live there. But Daisy says local people have a hard time accepting the idea that everything is shared. If you are struggling with an idea, you will have a hard time accepting it or thinking about it. Daisy also says that some local people consider Riverside to be quirky, strange and unusual. Our second group of dreamers is a family: the Zapps. In 2000, childhood sweethearts Herman and Candelaria Zapp bought an old car and left Argentina to travel the world with less than $3,500 in their pockets. Twenty-two years and three children later they have visited more than one hundred countries, meeting countless people and experiences along 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 that exists now, that I now know: not the one who wanted to conquer the world, but the one who was conquered by the world. I learn a lot from people, and it's amazing how the more you meet people, the more you learn stories, the more humble you become because you notice that you are a beautiful little piece of sand, but a very important piece of sand. like everyone else, right? After many years traveling, meeting new people and hearing his stories, Herman is more humble, not proud or arrogant.

He no longer wants to conquer the world, 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 that 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 regrets, 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 was the number one regret, Beth?

I assumed it was b) not following your dreams. What was the correct answer! Not having the courage to follow your dreams was among life's top regrets. At least we have people like Daisy and Herman to remind us that dreams can come true! Okay, let's recap the vocabulary of this show, starting with "utopia": a perfect world where everyone is happy. If you "struggle with an idea," you will find it difficult to accept it. The adjective extravagant 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 that is both insignificant but somehow important. Once again, we were out of six

minute

s. Goodbye for now! Bye bye!