Weird dream turns hopeful

I had a dream a few weeks ago. During the dream, I felt frustrated, nervous, and rushed. I was limping around because one of my feet had a hiking boot on it, while the other foot had only a flip flop. This was very annoying, because I typically wear matching shoes! There was more to the dream, but the footgear was key.

Part of my life coaching class includes dream analysis, and a fellow student helped me out with this one. I won’t bore you with all the steps involved, but after asking me several questions, it became apparent that the mis-matched footgear is symbolic of several aspects of my life. 

For most of my life, the hiking boots in my dream matched what I was doing: work 49 weeks out of the year, take 3 weeks vacation, repeat. I’ve always been good about using all my benefit days, especially with family members in more than 1 country, but I don’t literally hike for work.  Even though hiking isn’t my favorite pastime, I don’t mind wearing sturdy boots during colder weather for obvious reasons. I’ve never owned high heeled winter boots!

Until now, flip flops have been stored at the back of the closet until summers in the garden or vacations to warmer climates… a couple of months for the former, a week per year if I’m lucky for the latter. I’ve been spending more time in nature since getting laid off from work, and have also been wearing more casual clothes, resulting in more flip-flop usage! At the same time, I feel pressure to be “productive”, as if I’m doing something useful with my life…wait, does that mean I can’t do worthwhile things in flip flops? Hmmm, that’s worth examining.