Big news in Westport.: The winner of the singing reality TV show, “The Voice,” was homegrown Alisan Porter, a 1999 graduate of Staples High School. Many locals enjoyed Alisan’s talents as a star in Staples Players’ shows, including “West Side Story,” where she first sang the song that won her the championship, “Somewhere.”

No matter what you think of “The Voice,” “American Idol,” “So You Think You Can Dance,” and all the other TV talent shows, I continue to be absolutely in awe of them. The final season of “American Idol” and its finale earlier in the year was no exception. And not because of the hoopla surrounding selection of the final winner, nor the grandness of the staging. Not even how hunky Harry Connick Jr. looked in a tux or J.Lo’s latest amazing outfit.

Quite simply, as contestants and winners from the past 15 seasons were spotlighted throughout the night and performed an array of songs of all styles, it was astonishing to see the incredible talent that has passed through the gates of “Idol.”

Why am I writing about this now? Because Alisan Porter’s win reminded me of the magic that happens when dreams really do come true. And in a time when the media is way too full of complaints and accusations, I think it is important to pay attention to those who are doing what they need to do to make those dreams a reality for themselves.

Back to the “Idol” finale . . . One singer after another, whether they were winners, finalists or just top 10s, sang beautifully and with a deep and moving passion. Clearly many of the contestants have continued to hone their crafts since they were on the show, driven by the pursuit of their musical dreams. A little Googling found that of the 150 top 10 contestants over the seasons, 69 of them, nearly half, have produced at least one album and/or achieved some kind of music-related status.

Hollywood isn’t reality? Perhaps. But this is just one very visible sub-segment of young people who are pursuing their passion no matter what it takes, and many of them including Porter overcame some amazing challenges such as health issues, emotional issues, substance abuse issues, money issues and all sorts of family problems to do it.

I live by the credo that we all have far more power over our lives than we give ourselves credit for, but it’s not so easy to know what to do or how to do it. Yet these amazing people — many of them teens or barely out of their teens when they were on the show — pushed past their challenges to better themselves.

Ninety percent of them were “losers” the first time around since only 10 percent of the top 10 become the winner. And if you start with the top 24, then 96 percent are losers, and 99 percent if you include all those who showed up to audition. Yet the “losers” didn’t quit. They created new pathways to success based on what they learned from their American Idol experience and the people they met along the way.

My husband always tells me that “whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.” I have a friend, “Jean,” for example, who has decided that her dislike for her home and its location, and the loneliness associated with it, are simply the way that it is, and no option I have suggested for ways she can make a change are viable. She is choosing to be unhappy rather than consider the steps that she could take to either improve her current living situation or to change it.

As we age, it becomes easier to think we can’t make a difference or that we are too old to change or that it’s simply not worth it. But with average life expectancy in the United States at 79 (81 for women, 76 for men) there is a whole lot of life left even for those in their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond.

There are many people who have started whole new careers later in life. Julia Child published her first cookbook at 50. Vera Wang was 40 when she designed her first wedding gown (her own). At 65, Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first “Little House,” book which would become the basis for the television show “Little House on the Prairie.” And Charles Darwin wrote “On the Origin of the Species,” which changed the world of scientific thought, when he was 50. Mind you, in 1859 when he wrote that, the average life expectancy was 43 so he was technically “dead” when he wrote it.

I am heartened to see that the American Spirit of self-reliance is alive and well in homes and businesses across our great nation.

Truth be told, I am not a big watcher of reality television, but the channels are filled with dreamers of all ages reaching for their best lives and doing everything they can to get there. As the election drama unfolds over the coming months and the candidates debate what entitlements the government should or should not be providing to our citizens, I am heartened to see that the American Spirit of self-reliance is alive and well in homes and businesses across our great nation.