So, what is the key difference between a future plan and a dream? A dream has some special taste or smell, whatever. It is very often our fantasy, our cherished desire, some crazy wish. We may know that we’ll never get what we dream about but still have and keep our dream for quite a long time. Moreover, some really funny things can turn into dreams for someone, like having a bath full of macaroni (as it was described in one movie), and a person will live the entire life with such a dream. Plans are considered to be much more down-to-earth. Nowadays planning is everywhere: when at job we have daily schedule, even household chores are planned. But of course there are more “global-like” or serious plans, like buying a house at the seaside in 10 years or so. The latter example can be attributed to both dreams and plans. Thus a dream can turn into a plan, if you have some strategy of achieving your aim. There is one more aspect: plans are not always what we really want to get; very often we have to plan unpleasant things for us. A school-boy plans to write his final essay by the deadline, but that’s not what he wants to do. Well, he wants to get a good result, but the whole process may be far from pleasant for him. However, the plan is with him. A new bike can be a dream for this boy, if his family is not rich or is against such presents. Still, this dream can soon transform into a plan. As we see, plans and dreams, despite some differences, are often inter-connected and inter-dependant. That is because they have one important thing in common: they are about future, which is indeed uncertain. Because of such uncertainty, dreams at times turn to be more realistic than plans. That’s life.
Since childhood we dream and plan. We want to open at least a small slot in the doors to the future; that is the sweetness of uncertainty, which may end with bitterness or a greater sweetness. Anyway, both planning and dreaming follow us in the course of our whole life, because they give us grounds, which is more, they provide us with a reason for living.