What does it mean to be a Self-Proclaimed Dreamer?

     Hey friends, Jonathan here with a bit of a clarification to make today. I don't want people to think that the title that I've chosen for my blog means that I'm better than anyone. I don't think anyone who has met me would believe that I'd say anything like that, but I just want to make it known exactly what I mean by the "Self-Proclaimed Dreamer" and why I choose to call myself that here on this blog. This isn't going to be a very long post by any means, but I just feel like it's something that is important to qualify every now and then.

    Growing up and all through school, I've had a hard time expressing myself and exactly what I've been trying to say. I was always a quiet guy in class and as such, I didn't open my mouth enough to let a lot of people really get to know me, save maybe the last year of high school and on. Even then though, some of the most important things that I really wanted to say just never materialized. I've tortured myself for years for some of the things that I've said and left unsaid, and I've decided that it's time to let things out in a different way. So many stories that have flown around in my head, ideas that I've had that I considered to be useless or not good enough to be shown off, and I've realized that some of that stuff is actually really good or creative. The Self-Proclaimed Dreamer essentially began with that. I call myself a Self-Proclaimed Dreamer because I was so quiet and well behaved in school that I'm sure most people just assumed I was really boring or didn't have a lot going on inside my head, when nothing could be farther from the truth. Whole songs, stories, musical ideas, etc. have all flown around in bits and pieces as I just continue along saying nothing about them, but silently being proud of what little I've accomplished with just the thoughts. Ironically, this blog has become something else entirely, as a place that I've become comfortable enough with speaking in the last few years on my thoughts on basically anything. I've obviously stuck to video games, movies, theme parks, and TV shows (once or twice at least), and just talked about how I felt about those particular topics. By doing all these writings, I've been able to become much more outspoken in general and more comfortable being naturally the way I am, and will hopefully continue doing these writing tasks for the near future.

    I still need to work on being more comfortable with communication in general, which is the main reason why I focused on communications majors in college (as I believe everyone could use some training in communicating more effectively), but I'm making good progress. Nearly everyone has a fear of public speaking, which makes sense, and also why we have to make so many presentations in schools. It will ultimately help to get us prepared presentations we may or may not make when we're out in the "real world." It's still hard for me, but I'm happy with what I've done so far and I hope to do more in the future. I'm at a point in my life where I'll say something that really surprises me because I generally know a lot more than I give myself credit for, and I hope that I'll be able to express that some more in a professional capacity soon.

    All of this is a very long winded way of me saying that I'm actually very happy with what I've written so far, and also that I hope you don't think that my title of "Self-Proclaimed Dreamer" is my way of bragging. One of my friends a long time ago said that I needed to come out of my shell, and thanks to so many of my friends and experiences through my life in addition to these writings, I'm finally starting to do that. It's a scary world, but I'm learning to work through it and face the future with my best foot forward. It's something that we all need to do, and I hope you'll join me as we continue to press on together.

    Thanks so much for reading this very self-indulgent post, friends. Obviously it's much shorter than a lot of my other writings here, but it's hard to write about myself, and I think that's a sentiment that most people agree with. It's important to talk about the personal mindset every now and then, especially since the first time I talked about myself was really before I started spreading the word of my blog in any real way. I especially don't care to brag about myself, but sometimes I just feel proud of the things that I've done so far, and even though they haven't yielded any major successes or anything like that in my life yet, I can't help but feel like these writings are like stepping stones to something better. Thanks again for all the kind words of support, friends. I really appreciate it more than I can say, and I hope you all have a great week. Until next time, I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed Dreamer, and I'll talk to you again soon.