Last night I dreamed that I was in a marathon race. I was barefooted. I remembered that I brought my shoes but the race was already started. I had not choice but run without them. I only ran for two kilometers and then dropped out. It wasn’t my intention to finish the race. Or so I thought.
It was not the first time I had a dream where I was running. It is not a recurring dream either, but I had it from time to time. I can tell you with a hundred percent surety that those dreams have nothing to do with passion in sports. I’m not athletic by any measure. In fact, PE was my least favorite subject at school. I remembered one day in second or third grade my PE teacher had us running laps. My friends ran so fast that they were one and a half lap ahead of me. I was out of breath, out of energy, out of everything. I could never catch up to them. I dropped myself and pretended to faint.
When I took up running a few years ago to keep my weight, I accepted the fact that I would not be able to run as fast or as long as most people because of a heart condition I inherited from my parents. But nevertheless, running became somewhat ingrained in me. So much so that I dream of it.
According to Kendra Cherry, MSEd in her article for verywellmind.com, there are at least four roles of dreams. They could be the mind’s way to consolidate memories (you relived in your dream what you did during a certain period of time), to process emotions (you dreamed that you yelled at the person who cut you in the checkout line), to gain practice in confronting potential dangers (you dreamed that you woke up late for an important exam), or to express our deepest desires. I believe my dreams are of the last type. I would dream that I could run so fast that I felt like I was flying.
It is interesting to note that it’s the only good thing that I dream more than once. I love traveling, and there are places in the world that I would love to visit. The Arctic Circle, for one. However, I never once had a dream about going to Lapland or about seeing the Aurora Borealis. It’s as though there is something about running that I feel more deeply that I realize.
Psychology Today says that there is no exact meaning of dreams. That means it’s up to the person to interpret what their dreams signify. For me, I’d say it’s my body’s way of telling me to go back running.
How about you? What recurring dreams you often have and what do you think they mean to you?
Life At Slow-Mo 
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