Ive been told that the romance years end with graduation from university. It is understandably easier for those with lineage or patrons to facilitate the pursuit of the uncompromised present. But for the dream filled graduate seeking that first job with nothing but a degree in the kit, the real world will pull the brightest star right down to earth.
For everyone who dreams, there is a recognition to make.
Intellect comes in two forms: there are floaters and there are divers. The floaters generally grow into pinstriped suits and have corporate ambitions, they may or not change the world but the one thing they strive for above all else is independence through economic gain. Taken to the extreme, a floater will choose to live in the world of purchasing power; a world of monetary survival. Divers live in a world of their economic making. Reality will bite, but in a way of their choosing and their uncompromised present depends not on a safety net of money but of passion. Divers live the less worn path not by choice but as a byproduct of their beliefs. They are the same deep rollers Dr. Lecter speaks of in reference to Clarice Starling. Taken to the extreme, divers are eccentric and difficult, they have been known to cut their ears off.
Ive since found that for divers and deep rollers, real life does not end the romance, it begins it. It may come in uncompromised form only years later, but the journey will always be worth its while. Divers are a special breed, for they dream.
The key is to keep that dream alive...and when reality bites, to bite right back.