*The following post was written after an interview I conducted with Christine Hassler.  Christine is a life coach for 20 somethings and the author of two self help books,  20 Something, 20 Everything and The Twenty Something Manifesto.*

Over a million young adults graduate from college every year.  Often times they graduate with big hopes and dreams, but quickly realize that life after college can get expensive and busy.  This realization leads many people to push aside their dreams in favor of steady employment, but life does not have to get in the way of accomplishing your dreams.

Below I have listed three common types of dreams that graduating students have and some advice to consider as you prepare for what comes next in your life.

Dreams that are hard to attain

A lot of people have a dream of being an actor, musician, writer or something along those lines that is very hard to accomplish and doesn’t always pay well until you’ve made it.  It can be frightening trying to go for this type of dream because of the fear that you won’t succeed.  Often people will give up or never even try, instead seeking the comfort of a steady pay check, but it doesn’t have to be either/or.  Many people have had a dream that seemed unattainable, and achieved that dream while maintaining steady employment to keep food on the table.  Take a steady job and then spend every free moment you have working towards accomplishing your goals.  It might take longer than if you focused full time on achieving your dream, but you’ll have a career to fall back on if things don’t turn out as planned.

Dreams that are traditional career driven

A lot of people have a dream that is more career driven, like becoming a teacher or an engineer.  For the following advice I will use teaching as an example, but this advice can be applied to any career choice.  If you find yourself in a situation where you can’t seem to land your dream job as a teacher, you can still live your dream in other ways.  You could teach Sunday school, coach a sport, or tutor.  There are many ways to do what you love, and if you don’t give up and continue getting more teaching experience, you will be more likely to land your dream job eventually.

Dreams that are experience driven

Some people have a dream that is not associated with any career or talent.  What if you just want to travel Europe for a few months after college, or you always wanted to move to New York City?  There can be many worries associated with a dream that is experience driven.  You might start to ask yourself: what if I don’t meet anyone, what if it’s not as fun as I thought, what if employers don’t want to hire me when I move there?  The thing to remember if you are having these types of concerns is that everything you are thinking about in terms of the future you are making up.  You have no way of knowing what will actually happen.  If you have the chance to try something that will be the opportunity of a lifetime, you should take that chance while you are still young.  After all, the farther you get in life the more responsibilities you will have, so you should take a chance when you are young and don’t yet have a family and a mortgage.

Remember, as you are preparing to graduate, it’s important to have dreams and try to achieve those dreams.  As life starts to get in the way don’t get discouraged.  If you really want to accomplish something, you can make it happen.

*Thanks to Christine Hassler for her help with this post.  Check out her website for some good advice on dealing with the stresses in your life.*