In the space between falling asleep last night and waking up this morning, I took a vacation to Italy. It was warm, filled with fascinating architecture, and the food was amazing. I don’t know why my subconscious chose Italy as a vacation place. I’ve never been there. I don’t know why it chose last night to dream a full length made-up vacation. I woke up feeling glad to be back home after a good trip.
This afternoon my subconscious took me on quite a different trip. It decided to be anxious and to spill that feeling throughout my body and brain. My logic centers scrambled to try to explain it, because my logic centers are quite convinced that things which can be explained can also be managed. The thing is that yesterday went seriously awry the minute the kids got home from school. I was completely unable to pull it back on course. I just had to shutdown and restart on the hope that the troubles would be gone the next day. My kids were going to come home from school again, and rather than sensibly waiting to see how it went, my subconscious decided to be anxious in advance. I didn’t get a whole lot of work done which gave my subconscious even more fodder for anxiety.
The actual arrival of my kids and ensuing homework events were not entirely happy, but I’ll take today over yesterday without hesitation.
So I hope that my subconscious has a nice trip planned for tonight’s dream. I think it owes me.
I decided a long time ago that I need at least 6-8 trips a year in order to be a responsible person the rest of the time. Fall is horribly difficult because I can’t get away until Thanksgiving so I spend my free moments planning trips to exciting places. Through the internet, I’ve been to Florida to see a space launch and visit some museums. I’ve printed maps for driving up the coast of Maine to Prince Edward Island and detailed all the stops I would take along the way. I planned a week long trip to Texas to see San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas. I’ve priced plane tickets to Germany and cruises to the Caribbean. In the end, I always weigh the cost of the trip against the needs of my family. I usually decide that keeping with our current schedule is the most important thing for our kids. It is good to be reminded that I am choosing to stay. The trips will be waiting for me when the time is right but my mind is grateful for the virtual escape.
I can see how that would work. Just now the thought of planning anything else makes me want to flee. I think the Italy dream was so pleasant because it was all about in-the-moment enjoyment rather than planning and schedules.
I hope that someday you’ll get to take all the trips you’ve planned. Your kids are getting to the age where some of those are possible.