Growing up, a lot of kids are told to shoot for the stars as a way of encouraging them to dream big and not to give up. I wasn't one of those kids. I wasn't told that the sky is the limit or that I should reach for the moon because if I miss, I'll be among the stars. I wasn't told to shoot for the stars. Instead, I was told about infinity.
My parents would tell me that they loved me to infinity, and I'd tell them that I loved them to second infinity. We'd keep going until settling on loving each other to infinity and beyond. We didn't talk about the sky or the moon or the stars. We always talked about infinity like it was a tangible object we could hold in our hands and picture perfectly instead of abstract and endless.
I was raised to believe that infinity is something I can achieve, and this allowed me to dream. Some people may think that believing in reaching infinity would be damaging. That it would make me feel like I was never doing enough because there was always something more. That it would make me feel small or inconsequential because I'm just a tiny speck in this vast expanse. In reality, it did the opposite for me.
Being raised on infinity, there was never a dream that was too big. There was never a goal that was out of reach. Anything I wanted to do, I could do because it wasn't infinity, which meant it was within the realm of the possible. Shooting for infinity made otherwise intimidating processes feel like nothing. It made me feel like college was within my reach while filling out applications. It made me believe that those super selective scholarships I was applying for were within my grasp. It made me feel confident when interviewing for my dream internship at the age of eighteen. It made traveling out of the country by myself feel like walking to my neighbor's house because I could be going further.
Always thinking about infinity has pushed me to want more for myself. I often think I don't deserve much, but remembering to believe in infinity has made me aim for more. It's made me believe in the seemingly impossible for myself, and it's allowed me to make these impossibilities into my reality. It's made me push myself to be more than I thought I could be because I know that there is still more I can do because I'm not at infinity. When a dream's come true for me, I haven't sat back and been finished. Believing in infinity has made me realize that maybe I'm just not dreaming big enough and that maybe, just maybe, there's something more for myself out there.
I was raised on infinity. I was raised to believe that there was no dream too big to become a reality or no goal too hard to achieve. I was raised being told that I won't reach infinity but that I can get close if I try. I was raised to believe that I can do anything and be anyone, and I don't know who I would be if I wasn't encouraged to shoot for the impossible. Being raised on infinity has made me believe that anything is possible for myself and has allowed me to do the impossible without the fear of failing. I am more today than I thought I could be yesterday, and tomorrow I'll be even more because I keep moving towards infinity.
Because when you are raised on infinity, anything is possible.
