Are you following your dreams? ⏲️ 6 Minute English

0:07 Hello.

0:08 This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.

0:11 I’m Neil.

0:12 And I’m Beth.

0:13 When I was a boy, I wanted to be a fireman when I grew up.

0:17 How about you, Beth?

0:18 Did you have any childhood dreams?

0:20 I wanted to be an astronaut and fly to the Moon… When

0:24 we’re young most of us have big dreams and plans for the future.

0:28 Unfortunately, as we grow up these childhood dreams

0:31 often get lost in the adult world of jobs, money, families and careers.

0:38 But not for everyone… Daisy, from New Zealand, and, Herman,

0:42 from Argentina are two people who decided to follow their childhood dreams.

0:48 They wanted the world to become a utopia– a perfect,

0:51 ideal society where everyone is happy and gets along with each other.

0:56 In this programme, we’ll be hearing how Daisy and Herman

1:00 made their dreams come true– not by changing the world,

1:04 but by changing themselves.

1:06 And, as usual, we’ll be learning some new vocabulary too.

1:10 But before that I have a question for you, Beth.

1:14 Following your dreams can be tough,

1:16 but not following them can leave you regretting

1:18 all the things you wanted to do but didn’t.

1:22 In 2012, Australian nurse, Bronnie Ware, wrote her bestselling book,

1:26 The Top Five Regrets of the Dying,

1:28 after interviewing terminally ill patients about their life regrets.

1:32 So, what do you think their top regret was?

1:36 Was it: a) I wish I hadn’t worked so hard?

1:39 b) I wish I had followed my dreams?

1:42 or c) I wish I’d made more money?

1:45 Well, I’ll guess it’s b) they wish they had followed their dreams.

1:49 OK, Beth.

1:50 I’ll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme.

1:53 The first dreamer we’re going to meet lives in Riverside,

1:57 a peace-loving community in New Zealand where everyone shares everything.

2:02 Riverside members work for the community’s businesses,

2:05 including a farm, a hotel and a café.

2:10 All the money they earn is collected and shared between everyone equally.

2:14 Daisy, who was born in East Germany, joined Riverside in 2004.

2:20 Here she explains her belief in sharing

2:22 to BBC World Service programme, The Documentary.

2:26 What I think I always believed in is that the sharing

2:30 of resources can provide a group of people with quite a great advantage,

2:34 but it doesn’t matter how many hours you work or what work you do,

2:38 everyone is getting the same amount.

2:40 And that is something that many people outside of Riverside struggle

2:44 with, and where we’re often getting this ‘communism’ label attached to us,

2:50 because it’s so… it seems so outlandish for people.

2:54 Riverside isn’t a communist community.

2:57 In fact, people with many different political views live there.

3:02 But Daisy says that local people struggle

3:04 with the idea that everything is shared.

3:08 If you struggle with an idea, you find it difficult to accept or think about it.

3:13 Daisy also says some local people

3:15 call Riverside outlandish– strange and unusual.

3:20 Our second group of dreamers are a family- the Zapps.

3:24 In 2000, childhood sweethearts, Herman and Candelaria Zapp,

3:29 bought a vintage car and set off from Argentina to travel

3:33 around the world with less than 3.500 dollars in their pockets.

3:38 Twenty-two years and three children later

3:41 they have visited over a hundred countries,

3:45 meeting with countless people and experiences on the way.

3:49 Here, Herman Zapp explains to BBC World Service’s, The Documentary,

3:53 how following his dream has changed him for the better.

3:57 I am so happy with the Herman there is now,

4:00 that I know now– not the one who wanted to conquer the world,

4:03 but the one who was conquered by the world.

4:06 I learn so much from people,

4:08 and it’s amazing how the more you meet people, the more you know stories,

4:11 how much more humble you become because you notice that you are a beautiful,

4:16 tiny piece of sand, but a very important piece of sand like everyone is, right?

4:23 After many years travelling, meeting new people and hearing their stories,

4:28 Herman is more humble– not proud or arrogant.

4:32 He no longer wants to conquer the world– to control it by force;

4:36 rather, he has been conquered by his experiences.

4:41 Herman compares himself to a beautiful but tiny piece of sand and uses

4:45 the phrase 'a grain of sand'

4:48 to describe things which are insignificant in themselves,

4:51 but at the same time are an important part of the whole.

4:55 Daisy and Herman are rare examples of dreamers

4:58 who followed their dream and found a happy life,

5:02 lived without regret– which reminds me of your question, Neil.

5:05 Yes, I asked about Bronnie Ware’s book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.

5:11 What do you think the number one regret was, Beth?

5:14 I guessed it was b) not following your dreams.

5:18 Which was the right answer!

5:20 Not having the courage to follow your dreams was listed as the top life regret.

5:26 At least we have people like Daisy and Herman to remind us dreams can come true!

5:30 OK, let’s recap the vocabulary from this programme,

5:34 starting with 'utopia'– a perfect world where everyone is happy.

5:39 If you 'struggle with an idea', you find it difficult to accept.

5:43 The adjective, outlandish, means strange and unusual.

5:48 'To conquer' something means to control it by force.

5:51 Someone who is 'humble' is not proud or arrogant.

5:55 And finally, the phrase 'a grain of sand'

5:57 describes something which is both insignificant yet somehow important.

6:02 Once again, our six minutes are up.

6:04 Bye for now!

6:05 Goodbye!