Some children have dreams of winning awards; they practice their speeches in front of mirrors, speaking into their toothbrush as if it was a microphone.

Tilda Swinton’s dreams were much more ordinary. Her ambitions were to live by the sea, with a garden she could grow vegetables in, somewhere in Scotland, where she was born and raised. She wanted to have some children, as well as some dogs. 

It was also important to her that she could work with her friends. The work itself mattered little—it could’ve easily been a wool shop, a smallholding, or a magazine—just that she could be in good company while doing it.

In choosing to make sure to keep her dreams within her reach, Tilda also shaped them intentionally. She made sure the weight of expectations never grew too heavy to shatter the dream; nor could her dream be taken away from her. This approach has enabled her to keep working on ideas for years and decades.

“Keep your dreams soft, and malleable, and flexible, and porous, and fun,” Tilda says.