Kieron wants to be a train driver. He dreams about trains. He reads about trains. He draws pictures of trains. He is sure this is what he will do. Lucy， aged seven， wants to be a zookeeper. She loves animals. She wants to look after them. She has drawn a picture of her dream. Georgia is ambitious. She’ll be a singer. But right now she is still in primary school， reading and counting and writing when the teacher says so. 1）X-Factor here she comes. In 2）felt tip， she and her classmates draw themselves in the future， entertaining audiences， saving lives， nurturing minds. Teacher， fireman， bookshop owner， they say； that’s what we’ll be.

Meanwhile， on the office floor and in the sales room， willing past the hours between clocking in and knocking off， things have turned grey. As the recession rolls， dreams have been crushed to dust.

At a time when it is hard for adults to summon the freedom to dream， children are setting an example. As our young artists from Walbottle Village primary school， Newcastle upon Tyne， show， they dream freely， with a healthy dose of imagination.

“My dream job is to be a famios persin because I want to be rich and buy a castle，”writes Emily， six. “I would like to be a 3）vet because I have seven cats. I like animals and want to be one，” says Bethany， five.

Adults don’t stick to their dreams， says headteacher， Maria Tarn：“They are 4）tainted by life experiences. I think we need to keep that ambition going.”

Research released last week by UKTV’s Watch channel supports this view. Some 69% of 3，000 parents surveyed admitted they had failed to follow their dream career path. But as they support their children in reaching for their （very different） dream careers， one generation on， parents said they rated job satisfaction and happiness as more than twice as important as wealth.

The most popular professions among fiveand six-year-olds are teacher， doctor and vet， research from 5）The Children’s Mutual shows. But they say training for these top three “dream jobs” will cost between ￡75，000 and ￡130，000 by 2021， based on today’s National Union of Students figures adjusted for inflation.

But perhaps an even greater cost—not necessarily measured in monetary terms—could be attached to the reverse； not pursuing dreams.

Consider the nightmare. Kieron， abandoning all enthusiasm for a job with travel， adventure and people， takes a job in an office—temporarily—to pay the bills. He stays for 25 years and gets used to the salary， occasionally wondering what happened.

Dr. Rob Yeung， corporate psychologist at consulting firm Talentspace and presenter of BBC’s How To Get Your Dream Job says that if people do not have enthusiasm for a job， then it is a “terrible waste of a life”.“Every job has its downsides，” says Yeung， but if you enjoy only 10% of the time you’re at work， it is not a good sign.

We are a “nation of career drifters”， analysis by workplace consultancy CHA shows. More than 60% of workers meander into a job instead of fulfilling their original career aspirations.

But the financial crisis has altered roles—for the worse—for many workers. And a large percentage who would not previously have done so are questioning how well suited their jobs are to them. Whereas talk two years or even 12 months ago might have been of career progression， workers are now widely complaining of career 6）regression， never mind just standing still.

Research published last month by international charity 7）VSO shows that more than 10 million workers in Britain feel they are “8）stagnating” professionally. One fifth of workers said they were considering a previously unplanned change in professional direction. Half said there were limited opportunities to get promoted in their current job and almost half said the recession had reduced their chances of developing their career.

Perhaps the time is exactly right to pinpoint and leap for dreams.

“You can look at the recession as an opportunity or a 9）calamity，” says Yeung.“People will use anything from their marriage to the recession as justification for staying in an unfulfilling job.” Others will respond positively and use it as a 10）catalyst for change.

But that’s still easier said than done， says Catherine Roan， managing director of Careershifters.org. “There is always a reason to stay.” Instead of lying in bed worrying about a career that is wrong， she says， set aside some time to devote to moving towards career change.

“I’ve never met anyone who regrets it ever and they all just wish they’d had the confidence to do it sooner， but that’s part of the journey，” Roan says.

Dreams are hard to grasp at the best of times. But what’s the harm in trying？ What did you dream of doing？ What do you want to be？

基隆想要成為一名火車司機。他會夢到火車，閱讀關(guān)于火車的文章，還會畫火車。他確信這就是他將來要做的事情。露西，七歲，想要成為一名動物園管理員。她喜歡動物，想要照顧它們。她還畫了一幅畫來描繪自己的夢想。喬治婭則雄心勃勃，她將成為一名歌手。但是目前她還在讀小學，她依然按照老師的要求，上著閱讀、算術(shù)和寫作課?！禭元素》，她就要放馬過來了。她和她的同學們用氈制粗頭筆，畫出自己的未來：娛樂觀眾、拯救生命、培育思想。老師，消防員、書店主，他們說；我們就要成為這樣的人。

與此同時，在辦公室或是門市部，人們正甘愿在打卡上下班之間消磨時光，日子愈發(fā)沒有生氣。隨著經(jīng)濟衰退加劇，夢想被撞擊成碎塵。

在這個成年人很難鼓起勇氣去追夢的時代，孩子們卻正在樹立著榜樣。來自位于泰恩河畔紐卡斯爾的沃博特鄉(xiāng)村小學的年輕藝術(shù)家們，向我們展示了一點：他們能自由夢想，且滿賦想象。

“我夢想當一個名人，因為我想要成為有錢人，買一座城堡，”六歲的艾米莉?qū)懙??！拔蚁氘斠幻F醫(yī)，因為我有七只貓咪。我喜歡小動物，所以我總想成為獸醫(yī)，” 五歲的貝姍妮這樣說道。

成年人不會堅持他們的夢想，校長瑪利亞·塔恩說道：“他們被生活經(jīng)歷所污染。我覺得我們有必要讓那份雄心繼續(xù)燃燒?！?/p>

上周英國電視臺觀看頻道發(fā)布的研究證實了這一觀點。接受調(diào)查的3000位家長中，大約有69%承認他們未能追隨自己的夢想職業(yè)道路。但是當家長們支持自己的兒女追求自己（和他們的大不相同）的夢想職業(yè)時，隔著一代人，他們認為工作滿足感和快樂比財富重要兩倍以上。

兒童互助會的調(diào)查表明，在五歲到六歲的孩子們當中，最受歡迎的職業(yè)是老師、醫(yī)生和獸醫(yī)。但是根據(jù)目前全國學生聯(lián)合會的數(shù)據(jù)（對通脹加以考慮之后）顯示，他們說，到2021年，從事排名前三的這些夢想職業(yè)所需要的培訓費用在7.5萬到13萬英鎊之間。

但是或許有一筆更大的花銷——并不一定以貨幣形式衡量——可能會在相反情況下出現(xiàn)：不去追求夢想。

來看看這個噩夢般的個案?；?，對于一份需要差旅、冒險以及與人打交道的工作，他喪失了所有熱情，轉(zhuǎn)而從事一份辦公室工作——暫時性的——以應(yīng)對生活開銷。他在那里工作了25年，習慣了領(lǐng)同樣的薪水，只是偶爾會感到茫然。

羅布·楊博士，是空間達人顧問公司的企業(yè)心理學家，也是英國廣播公司《如何讓你獲得夢想工作》的主持人，他說如果對于工作沒有熱忱，那么就是在“可怕地浪費生命”。“每份工作都有其缺點，”楊博士說，但是如果你只在10%的工作時間里感到享受，那這并不是個好征兆。

我們是一個“職場流浪者的國度”，職場顧問機構(gòu)CHA分析顯示。超過60%的職場人士湊合找了份工作，而不是去實現(xiàn)自己原來的職業(yè)理想。

但是金融危機改變了很多職場中人的角色，使得情況惡化。一大部分人開始質(zhì)疑自己到底有多適合目前的工作，而之前他們是不會這么做的。然而一兩年前談變，可能是聊聊職途的發(fā)展，但現(xiàn)在大家普遍抱怨的則是職途的倒退，能原地不動已經(jīng)算好了。

國際慈善機構(gòu)海外志愿服務(wù)隊上個月發(fā)布的研究報告顯示，英國有超過一千萬的在職人士覺得自己在職業(yè)生涯中“停滯不前”。五分之一的職場人士表示自己正考慮以前從未計劃過的職業(yè)轉(zhuǎn)換。二分之一的人認為目前工作上升空間有限，還有幾乎一半的人認為經(jīng)濟衰退減少了他們職業(yè)發(fā)展的機會。

或許這正是到了該明確并追求自己夢想的時候了。

“你可以將經(jīng)濟衰退看作是機會或是不幸，”楊博士說道?！叭藗儗⒂帽M理由，從他們的婚姻到經(jīng)濟衰退，來支持自己留在一個不盡人意的工作崗位上?！庇行┤藙t會積極響應(yīng)，以之作為改變的催化劑。

但是做的還是比說的難，職業(yè)轉(zhuǎn)換者組織的總經(jīng)理凱瑟琳·羅恩說道?！翱偸菚袀€理由讓你留下來?！迸c其躺在床上擔憂選錯職業(yè)，她說，還不如留出一些時間致力于職業(yè)轉(zhuǎn)換。

“我從未遇見過誰后悔，都是說希望當初能有信心早點去追求，但那畢竟是旅程的一部分，”羅恩說道。

即使在最佳的情況下，夢想也很難把握。但是，嘗試一下又何妨呢？你的夢想職業(yè)是什么？你想要干什么呢？