Pack Light, Move Fast, Go In A Familiar Direction

I'm one of those people who remembers her dreams. You know, like my starring role in Arctic Alligators where mutant alligators have migrated to the snowy Canadian mountaintops sliding down the hills beneath the snow like Jaws skimming the ocean until the fateful moment that even the best skiers can't escape. That's normal, right? I mean the remembering my dreams part.

Anyway, when I'm struggling with something I often get insights from my dreams. I know volumes have been written on dream interpretation and I'm certainly no expert in the matter. In fact, other than figuring out what it means to dream about my teeth falling out (because that really did freak me out), I don't formally study the matter. Instead, I let my dreams speak into my intuition. I'd say call me crazy, but if you read the first paragraph, you'd already know that I am.

Since most of my dreams are crazy abstractions, the occasional realistic one really makes me take notice. So the other night, when I drempt I was in an abusive relationship it was startling. I never saw my abuser and I didn't have any visible marks. All I had was this internal drive to get away. And as I moved through my nocturnal environment, three things kept playing over and over in my mind: pack light, move fast and go in a familiar direction. It was the last part that felt like the answer I'd been waiting for.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to escape an abusive relationship. But I have felt very stuck in one area of my life for quite some time. And  I'm not necessarily following my dream's advice on any point. Yet. But there is freedom in giving myself permission to pack light and move fast. And it was a permission thing because I'm loyal to a fault, can be overly optimistic and bounce back with a vengance when people express doubt with my abilities. That by packing light, I don't have to carry burdens that aren't my own. And by moving fast, I'm not letting people down by not having a well thought-out plan that takes care of everyone else.

But the twist is to go in a familiar direction. When contemplating a life change, I am gripped with the fear of the unkown. And how unknown the unknown seemed. But it hadn't crossed my mind that I didn't have to go somewhere wholly unknown. I can go somewhere that is familiar but different. Wow. From a dream. Huh.