Her dream of competing in the Olympics became a 'reality'. [=she competed in the Olympics, as she had dreamed of doing]
He was starting to think he was infallible, so the criticism from his boss served as a 'reality check'.
Her friends gave her a 'reality check' about her boyfriend. [=told her the truth about her boyfriend]
(..) -Great. Listen, I admire your... Your zeal. And I think you have some very good ideas. But you know nothing about the realities of my industry. You can set up an iChat, but you don't know how people think. -Actually, I minored in psychology. -Nice. -Okay, kiddo, fire me. (..)2009 Up in the Air