Hurtling through life without a parachute

There is a lot going on in my life right now. It is no surprise to me that my dreams should be even weirder than usual. I have written about dreams of mine before, and that I always marvel at their incredible detail and the epic, movie-like scope therein.

Lat night, I dreamt that I was in some sort of motorized conveyance with someone else. He was driving. When I drive, I don't waste any time. I have a lead foot, but I am not a reckless driver. The chap behind the wheel was driving way too fast and he was reckless in a way that scared me. Our vehicle careened about all over the place, left the road, and suddenly we were catapulted over the end of a large cliff.

That last event might have indicated a good time for me to panic and wake up. Instead, in my dream, I realized that I was no longer in the vehicle, but that somehow I was still in my seat, upright, and hurtling toward the ground. I figured that there was nothing for me to do but to make the best of the situation, so I took care to try to stay upright and to use the bottom of the seat, which was fairly flat and therefore created some drag, to slow down the fall a bit. It was a pleasant but exciting sensation, with the wind howling in my ears as I plummeted towards the ground. I was in control and I knew that before I hit the ground I would have figured out a way to save myself. In the meantime, I enjoyed the ride.

I woke up before I discovered what was to happen next.

That's my approach to life. Stuff happens. When stuff happens, you deal with it. Worry, anger, recrimination, nothing else works. And anything but working towards a solution is a waste of time. I don't like to waste time. There is too little of it.

Maybe, because life is so short and we only have one crack at doing it right, I am amazed that many of us fritter it away. I'm not suggesting that every minute need be spent doing something significant, just that there are some things more important than others and that it is a good idea to prioritize. It is also a good idea to leave other people to live their lives and to concentrate on your own.

Like my dream, there are situations in my life where things happen that are not of my doing. That happens to all of us. There are also things that happen to us because we make mistakes and we end up somewhere we would rather not be. Whatever the situation, the sooner we grab the paddle the sooner we will be back on course.

Don't worry; there is nothing seriously wrong with me or any projects or relationships. It's just the usual frustrations of trying to interact in an imperfect world. Some of us work off our frustrations by eating too much, drinking too much, or yelling at our spouses and kids. I dream. At least I get some entertainment value out of it and, best of all, it doesn't cost me a cent.