Flying high (but pedalling furiously)

I have two reoccurring dreams. In the first, and most frequent, I’m flying, usually in a very small craft similar to a Sinclair C5 that I have total control of. I don’t fly high in the air, I’m always concentrating on staying above telephone wires, treetops and electricity pylons, and I’m always going somewhere. In the second, I am usually going home but I only have a very small bicycle or tricycle and I have long way to go. It takes me a lot of effort to keep pedalling on the road. Larger vehicles rush past me but I manage to keep moving forward and get to where I’m going.

Having had them so often I have tried to find out what the dreams mean via that font of all knowledge – Google. Flying is supposed to represent feeling happy, free and in control of what is happening in your waking life. Pedalling in a dream, I’m told, represents self-motivation and a willingness to work hard in order to make progress.

Either that or I’m trying hard to escape as quickly as possble and I’m making life much more difficult for myself than it need be! Who knows?

However, I do think that in the perpetual cycle of peaks and troughs of the SBM workload these two dreams instill in me a sense of confidence. A confidence that I can get to were I want to be. They remind me that I can do this. I can steer my aircraft around obstacles, I can manoeuvre higher or lower as needed and I can land safely at my destination with my nerves intact. When the going gets really tough, I have the ability and energy to put the effort in to get to where I need to be, no matter how long it takes, or however many more able competitors zoom past me on the path. 

So when I hit a particularly challenging week (or two) at work, I ask myself a few questions;

  1. Is this something I can handle?
  2. Have I got through something like this before?
  3. Is there anyone I can ask to help me?
  4. Will I get there in the end?

The answers are always;

  1. Yes
  2. Yes
  3. Yes
  4. Yes

It goes to show that sometimes, even when we are asleep, we can draw strength from the smallest and most inconsequential parts of our life. The strength we can use to push on with the task and see it through to the end. 

Or, as happened in a dream once, get tangled in a tree top and have to wait to be rescued. Luckily I woke up before I was humiliatingly hauled to the ground by burly firefighters – my confidence had clearly abandoned ship that day!

What makes you feel strong?

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