Monsters in our dreams

Every dream has a monster, visible or not.

I’m talking about “daydreaming”, imagining one’s self in another situation, in a happy place, position, circumstance… Every such dream starts with having lots of imagination, and sometimes, false and stupid hopes. But it’s a dream, right? Everyone has the right to dream from time to time. At least, that’s what they teach us when we are young. While growing those dreams are being replaced by ones that become more and more realistic. Dreams about flying, being a singer, living alone in a small house in the fields are being replaced by “dreams” that are seem like aspirations, things that we want to improve in our everyday life, not radically new ideas.

So what is happening and people change their dreams (or ditch them completely) while growing up? Well… life happens. Life inside the constraints of a modern society. In all modern and civilized societies people are expected to work, to have a career. They are expected to climb up to the hierarchy, to make more money, to have more responsibilities. Society needs responsible people after all, right?. They are also expected to have a family, kids, to grow them, in order to replace them when they are gone. The pattern here is that people are in general “expected”.

That sort of expectations often come with pressure. Pressure to decide what to do, and then pressure to excel in it. Usually this pressure starts since our early years. Written exams during primary schools, tests, direct comparisons with other people etc. The mental space and actual time for productively planning one’s next steps, to explore his/her hobbies and to become more proficient in them is limited. Having this schedule, I cannot imagine how someone could actually invest time to elaborate on the strengths and weaknesses of its personality, on his capabilities, and his preferences.

Let alone his dreams.

Ah, yes. Dreams. That’s why I started this babbling!

Dreams need practice and constant exercising. One can consider them a skill. Dreams are about letting go, using one’s imagination. This needs effort, it’s not as simple as it sounds. While growing up and having more and more responsibilities it seems that people forget how to dream, thus leaving an important personality aspect out of the equation.

So what about the monsters?

The monsters are present into any dream, no matter if you can see them or not. Usually, a monster is manifested into the form of a potential failure, that threatens to destroy the whole dream. In some cases, effort alone into thinking about following a dream can be a preventive factor, thus also manifested as a “monster” in a dream. You know about these monsters, as well as I do. No matter how much you grow up, no matter what you do, there is always a monster inside any dream you may have, that awaits to destroy it. That’s why dreams also include considerable amount of practising. If you know how to build your dreams then you can also reshape them, adapt them to reality (or adapt reality to your dreams, if you are ballsy enough) and face the “monsters”.

This is not another motivational speech stating that “you can be anything and anyone”. All I’m trying to say is that you should be able to have your own dreams, and exercise this skill, so that you can learn how to dream, change the rules of the game, and make the “monsters” go away. Or at least use the monsters and the fear they provoke productively.

Just some random thoughts, which occurred to me after a few hours of coding, and much anxiety about things to come.