How to manage my hopes and dreams?

I'm 24 and I know i'm young, but I for some reason I feel the weight of time. I don't feel i've done anything with my life. I work for the city in Public Works, I live in a small apartment in a bad area. That's all I have to show for my life. I want to do so much, but I have limited income and resources. I want to learn to dance. I want to learn to cook. I want to travel. I want to be a registered nurse, and possibly a doctor one day. I would also like to see what it's like to be a mediator. I would like a nice apartment in a high rise building downtown filled with antiquities, drive a nice car, and make good money, but I don't want my life to evolve around success. I want a big family one day that will stick together, because mine is divided. I want to make a mark in this world by making a difference. I want to be someone that will make my parents proud. I just want so much and sometimes I feel well discouraged. I'm such a dreamer and idealist. Any suggestions?

baby steps.

i am you. i am a dreamer, full of ambition and passion for my future. but i have learned to understand that all great things began with the first step... one step.

you have to begin. you have to start with something. wishing isnt going to get you anywhere. but do not label yourself by the materialistic ways of society. what you have is not who you are. understand that and believe it.

start with something, anything. go to college, take one cooking class instead of a months worth, take only a few dancing classes instead of a years worth. do what you can for now. but most importantly...

never give up, there are going to be a lot of people who will tell you your wrong, who will try to convince you of failure, who will try to bring you down and stop you from following your dreams. all successful people today, have these stories from their past. they did not listen. do not listen. follow your heart and follow your dreams. do not ask others what they think, others are not important. you know what you want, you have a vision... see it come to light. it is possible!!!!!!

get excited and get motivated!!!

Put those upes and dreams in a little box with a big padlock and a heavy chain. Drop the little box off of a bridge and forget about it.

Go to med school. Then you get a degree as a nurse or doctor or whatever. That gives you more money to get the nice apartment, and then someday you buy a house and car with saved money. Once you have enough you can travel. I don't know how to keep your family together, but if there's anything I learned from 'Of Mice and Men,' it's that you should never give up your dreams.