Spoken to by a Dream

Today I woke up from a somewhat odd dream. It was a very typical type of dream for me… one where I had a somewhat known to me goal, but the journey is one filled with varying levels of chaos. While the dream followed the usual pattern, this time it was somewhat different. As if it came with a hidden message.

The Dream

The theme of my dream seemed to be at my old job. More specifically, from the early days when I was grabbing product reservations for customers to later pick up and pay for in-store. Except in the dream there was no speaking or (verbal) interaction with anyone.

I started at the pick-up desk and noticed it was busy, so I went to grab orders in support. I had keys with me (I never used them at any point, but knew they were there) and went on my way. I soon realized the location felt like one I had never seen before but was able to navigate my way around relatively fine.

The location was mildly chaotic, yet calm. The environment was greyscale, with no noticeable colour. The lighting was low as if it was a desolate warehouse with high, dim lights. Faceless customers were walking around, but none stopping to ask me for help; it was almost as if I was invisible to them. Products seemed to be randomly placed on half empty shelves as if there was no real upkeep. I even noticed a product in a broken security case. I wavered back and forth about leaving it there and decided to take it with my back to a more secure location. As I approached that room, my dream abruptly ended.

The Message

I remember waking up from this dream a bit after 4am feeling cold and confused with (the starting of) a song in my head, almost like a theme song to my day. The song was “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas. I was unaware of this at first as I had to Google the lyrics that were in my head to discover the full details. I had never listened to the song in its entirety, so it was basically the intro and melody playing on repeat. I remember sitting in the darkness of my room for a bit wondering if this was all some weird message. It seemed all too oddly put together to be fully random.

I eventually got up to make tea and change into sweats as I realized the “cold” feeling was due to the 8° weather. I then sat down to document these events that occurred while they were fresh before deciding to give the song a full listen.

The Song

I then prepared to listen to the full song for the first time. It seemed fitting as it appeared to have been placed into my head. I was convinced I had heard this song from an MCU movie (despite Google saying otherwise). At 5:15am I popped in my earbuds and turned on the song.

I (conveniently) laid my head down at the “lay your weary head to rest” line (convincing my mind further this was “meant to be”). I had the intention of laying on my back and staring at the ceiling, but a sense of calm led me to close my eyes. I let the song play and felt the vibes. After the first guitar rift, I realized that “this is the song from Guitar Hero!” and was the reason why the melody seemed so familiar, despite not knowing most of the lyrics.

I seemed to relate to the lyrics in ways that will take another post to explain to avoid turning this into a mini novel. But in the end, it left me with an odd sense of peace and internal silence. Silence in a mind like mine is a blue moon level of rare. Since Amazon Music played this from a playlist, it then jumped into “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison. I gave the song a listen, then got back to the task at hand.

My Take

After this dream and subsequent events, I sat up wondering what it all meant, if anything at all. And as I write this article, I am still wondering the same. Was it inspiration sent from a greater power to send me a message to carry on and push through? Possible, but I doubt it. Was it a random set of occurrences that my mind is trying to make sense of? More likely, but who really knows? For all I know, it could be some grey area in between. What I do know is it has forced me to reflect on what was and envision what could be ahead of me.

Life is a collection of journeys. Some with clear start and end points, others that start and stop erratically. Sometimes the best form of navigation is to let the winds of fortune guide your path and enjoy the show as it unfolds.