By Stuart Adelberg
I spent a good amount of time last night dreaming. You might say, “so what?” But this is unusual for me. I am one of those people who falls asleep pretty quickly, but typically wakes with no memory of my dreams. I don’t know if this is good or bad, or what it says about the quality of my sleep. For me to wake up remembering a dream is so rare that I tend to pay attention and wonder if there is a reason why it happened.
Last night I was skydiving! Though I have thought about this, more than once, as a cool activity to have on my bucket list, I have never been skydiving. In fact, I have no idea, given the chance, if I would ever actually have the courage to leap off of or out of anything in the sky. In fact, this seems to have been the dominant theme of my dream. I remember being on a small airplane all suited up with a parachute, goggles, and other skydiving paraphernalia. There were at least two other people there, though I don’t remember if they were recognizable to me. These other unidentified people jumped out of the plane calling for me to follow, while I stayed safely inside fighting to build up the courage to join them. Then I woke up!! Don’t you hate when that happens?!
This morning, I have been wondering if this dream had some significant meaning to me. What message was this dream trying to send from the deep recesses of my typically shallow mind? What kind of dramatic or frightening “leap” was I being encouraged to take and is there even a possibility that I could build up the courage to take it?
Hmmm. Am I supposed to turn my life in a different direction, take on some new challenge, move to a remote part of the world, or get involved in a creative, inspirational initiative? I guess that’s all possible. I began to think about the challenging times we live in, and since some of the recent political events were high on my mind before I dozed off, I wondered if the dream was pushing me to engage on those issues. Though I certainly have strong opinions and most people who know me can guess what those are, I have not generally jumped into that arena. Could I make a difference there?
In another unusual and unlikely situation, I was actually able to go back to sleep after waking mid-dream and eventually found myself in the same place – still on that airplane, working up the courage to jump, this time with the encouragement of another unidentified person who was piloting the plane. Eventually, I took the leap! I was amazed at the view and remember being proud and excited at my courage, and just when I might have experienced the pinnacle of opening my parachute and landing somewhere. . . I woke up again!!! Oh no!!!
Now what? Should I be working on an exciting life plan, listing my home for sale, or brainstorming new ideas? Could I actually jump into politics? Maybe this dream was just intended to remind me that everyday brings new possibilities, opportunities, responsibilities, and challenges. I’ll be thinking about all of these prospects today. Or perhaps I’ll just take a nap and hope that another dream will show me where that “jump” takes me.
Stuart Adelberg has been a leader in the region’s nonprofit arts and human services communities for many years. He appreciate the opportunity provided by the Greenwich Sentinel to share his occasional thoughts and observations.
