Why is it crazy to say that Jiaqian wants to realize her dream of exchanging dreams?

In the past year, a Chinese girl quit her job in the British Foreign Office and traveled alone to more than 30 big cities and small counties, just to meet more than 600 strange netizens and interact with everyone. Each netizen lives for 1 to 3 days and records each person's story in video. Her name is Jiaqian. She said that this is called exchanging dreams. She hopes to find them again in ten years and listen to their efforts for their dreams. She regarded this trip to exchange dreams as a physical and mental practice.

Starting for ordinary strangers

Jiaqian has been living in Shanghai throughout her middle school years. She clearly remembered that one evening in her senior year of high school, she was riding a bicycle, facing the setting sun, and making a wish to the plane flying across the sky: I will never be able to stay in this place again next year. The world is so big, and she wanted to go to farther places to see it. Who knows, God's will, she was admitted to Shanghai International Studies University after the college entrance examination. what to do? She sought support from her family and applied to a university in Macau. Later, she came to Ireland through an exchange program, and then traveled to most of Europe due to various opportunities.

After returning to China, Jiaqian got a job in the Press Service of the British Foreign Office. Foreign civil servants are treated well and have regular contact with world-class superstars and celebrities from all walks of life.

Those acquaintances envied her, but she felt that she had not achieved her original journalistic ideal. For example, when inviting Beckham to China, everyone only cares about his reputation, not what he has actually done. What Jiaqian wants is not sensational headlines and formal news, but to understand the interesting stories behind each social role. Sadly, these stories are ignored by most media outlets.

In early 2012, Jiaqian wrote a book about her youth journey, but it failed to be published successfully. She was a little depressed and wrote a diary online. Some netizens left her a message and suggested that she print it herself and sell it. Jiaqian thought that instead of "selling" it, it would be better to exchange it with an interesting person as a token of dreams. This should be a very fun thing. She wrote down this idea and asked for opinions from strangers online. Unexpectedly, someone was actually interested.

A netizen wrote to Jiaqian and said: "I want to be a fashion designer. I will use the first dress I designed in exchange for your first book."

There is also a teacher from a mountain area who is willing to exchange two of her books with Jiaqian in exchange for the dreams-related paintings of more than 70 children in his class. At one time, she received thousands of letters in her mailbox, which gave Jiaqian the greatest encouragement and made her think deeply: the stories in TV and magazine media were either big stars or successful people, and they were particularly dazzling under the flashlight. But those ordinary people who can't get on the stage of the talent show, whose limbs are intact and whose parents are still alive, may not do well enough, have no luck, and are not embarrassed, but they still have their own dreams and their own stories.

When we think of traveling around the world as a way out, and when we see singing becoming popular on TV, will we be influenced by the media in this consumer era and think that traveling, singing, and becoming famous are dreams?

There are many possibilities in life. Jiaqian wants to know how people in other professions first identify their dreams? For example, if you are a doctor and have studied hard for seven years in medical school, what do they most want to achieve? Why are those who take the postgraduate entrance examination and civil service examination so crowded?

A more exciting plan came to Jia Qian's mind: exchanging dreams with ordinary strangers. In order to better understand the world and herself, she chose to use her feet to measure, go to each "stranger", live with him for a few days, eat, walk, listen to classes and go to work together, and share their stories.

This is a journey of the human heart

This is a crazy idea. In the spring of 2013, when Jiaqian proposed to her family that she was ready to resign to implement her plan, her mother tried her best to He objected and even wanted to "sever ties" with her at one point. Seeing Jiaqian silently packing her bags and getting ready to go, her parents finally chose to support her. Dad said that before you went to Beijing and stayed in a five-star hotel, now you have to choose the cheapest flight, save money on staying in a youth hostel, and sleep on a friend’s sofa. His tone concealed concern for his daughter.

"Exchanging Dreams" has just started for a month, and Jiaqian has encountered a lot of unpleasant things.

In Wuhan, she was knocked down by the random weather. She had a fever, sore throat and was unable to speak. She was put on an intravenous drip in the local hospital for three days. When she went to Chongqing in March, her entire luggage bag was snatched away by a taxi. When I went to college, I ate light food, and I was sensitive to a little salt. When I arrived in Chengdu, everything I ate was heavy-flavored. I was a serious wanderlust, and I was often late for appointments or several hours early. The interviewee even had to come to Jiaqian's residence to pick her up. The same is true in my hometown of Shanghai.

But she persisted, because everyone’s dream has a story.

In Chengdu, Jiaqian met a girl who wanted to be an actress. Nowadays, there are various ways to create talent shows on online platforms. The girl really wanted to try, but she couldn't get past her mother. Her mother is a primary school teacher who is about to retire. She has a conservative mindset and seems to only have three professions in her eyes: teacher, civil servant, and working for others. My mother has been single since her divorce and is in poor health. As a daughter, she has been burdened with many expectations. She could handle the boos from the audience, but couldn't imagine not having the support of those closest to her - the dream was only a half-finished product. Whether they can convince their parents has gradually become a big hurdle for young people to set out to pursue their dreams.

She also saw that many people overcame these obstacles and really set out to open the door to the world. In Chongqing and Wuhan, she met several girls. In order to pursue her own happiness and value, she gave up her superior previous position: "Life is about finding your own position and then doing what you should do in this position." One of them is now a bookstore employee. Although he is a little tired, he loves it. A girl from Wuhan who studied computer science found a "second life" in the choir. The captain of the choir used to be a doctor of philosophy and eventually found her passion in music.

She also saw many different kinds of happiness. In a cave dwelling in northern Shaanxi, Jiaqian stayed at the grandmother's house of her interview partner for five days. She played in the mountains and was excited to see tracts of jujube trees and cotton for the first time. The wealth that a "child in the mountains" has in childhood is the entire nature.

From the beginning to the end of 2013, Jiaqian met nearly 600 people. From dreams to family to love - along the way, Jiaqian's themes of concern have been changing, but what remains unchanged is her thinking about her own life.

Jia Qian said, "Everyone's heart is a world. When you walk into it, you will find the real reasons for many things, and some things that seemed unreasonable will be relieved. In fact, In a deeper sense, this is also the journey of my heart. Their down-to-earth life has deeply infected me."

For myself ten years later

What I didn't expect was, In the process of exchanging dreams with strangers, Jiaqian actually uses her small power to influence them. During a dream sharing session at some universities in Nanjing, a girl said she wanted to be an illustrator, but she was not majoring in art. After listening to Jiaqian’s experience of exchanging dreams along the way, she said: “From that day on, I I started painting every day. Jia Qian, I am now painting a painting called "Jia Qian Rhapsody". This is my first step on this path." /p>

After listening to a story, Jiaqian would ask the interviewee to record a paragraph for the lowest self in the future. The reason for this can be traced back to her study abroad career: that year, she came to the Netherlands alone, and encountered problems such as unsuccessful registration, loss of student ID cards, and re-examination. At the lowest point in her life, she had no one to talk to and could only encourage herself. Later, she opened a "confidence mailbox" and has received no less than 1,000 emails so far. She found that most people actually had similar demands to herself. "No matter how much comfort you receive from others, it is actually not as powerful as when you said to yourself a few years ago: 'Everything will pass.'"

Record the paragraph "Speak to yourself ten years from now." When watching the movie, Jiaqian discovered that many people’s tears were caused by their parents. Some people gritted their teeth and said that even if their parents don't understand, they must take this step. Someone is relieved and can stay with them and accept a stable job. Some people are still struggling and are in a dilemma.

Jia Qian remembers one time when she saw Cai Kangyong crying on the show. He was talking about his father, "Often when we can prove ourselves, they have no chance to see it." With a strong heart and full motivation, we The ones who can't cross it the most are parents.

No matter how great a person you become, you will always be their child, just cooking a table of dishes waiting for you to go home.

When I returned home during the Spring Festival, my father saw Jiaqian and felt that the biggest change in her was that she became more sensible and supported her children in continuing to pursue their dreams. Jiaqian also wants to keep "exchanging dreams" with others until she runs out of money.

Maybe ten years later, Jiaqian will find these storytellers and record their efforts for their dreams in these ten years. She looked forward to meeting them ten years later on a street in Paris, or in a small cafe downstairs. The two of them would turn on the computer together and watch the interview video from ten years ago.

Then Jiaqian will ask: "Have you realized that dream back then? Have you become the adult you didn't like back then? In fact, this is also good. The process of realizing your dream , just like love, it is always on the road of pursuit. Whether it is suitable and whether you can pursue it or not is a kind of practice. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is difficult; however, it is all happy in the end and will not bring any regrets. ” p>