THE DREAM - Race I was at school doing some kind of cross country run. We ran down the fields near to my childhood home. I ran up a hill making a short cut. I saw the front runners. There were dozens ahead of me. There was a feeling that there was a guy I met at college. He was one of the cooler kids who was friends with me. He was one of my few connections with cooler kids at a time when I had no friends. He was a level which I really could not cope with.

I was later on Scalby road in a car. It was not Scalby Road but the old Scalby road. It was also not so much a car but a boat. There was a big flood and we were going down it whilst it was flooding. I kind of agreed to go this way since it was a car, But at the last second there was hardly any water. It was mostly rocks and therefore fairly impassible. I was being cautious. I also felt I was in control of the situation. I said that we would have to join together to turn the car around. I made a funny remark saying that if we went one way as someone had suggested then we would hit every possible object.

Later there was some map of the world. Parts of it were dominated by one thing such as football.

THE REALITY The dreamer was not in a competitive mood generally. That day he was very ill. He vision was impaired. He had just had an argument with his sister and was feeling very anti social. He had just refused to go on a day out because he was not feeling up to it. He was low on confidence and increasingly socially isolated.

People tend to look at dreams too literally. This dream involves a race around some local roads and at times seems ridiculous. Yet when you look deeper there are themes which are very relevant to the dreamers current situation. Instead of looking at the symbol "race" as a noun think of it as a verb. Instead of thinking of a more formal "race" think of the general term "racing". That is much more relevant to the dreamer.

"Racing" links by association to words like "competitive" and phrases like "pushing the limits". In real life the dreamer was not wanting to "push the limits" he was wanting to pull back and live a more cautious lifestyle. He was retreating into his shell and was shunning social contact. The day before he had declined a day out because he was not wanting to be around people.

The dreamer is clearly doing in the dream what he is doing in real life. In real life he was more "cautious" and in real life he was slowing down and not taking risks.

The dreamer had been retreating and avoiding social contact. The dream deals with a theme which is relevant here. There was a cooler kid from school who liked him but he felt out of his depth with. People will often say things like "but I have not seen him for years so whats that dream all about?" But actually the dream is making this point "I don't like mixing with cooler popular people because I feel out of my depth with them. This reminds me of that kid at school who was really cool but I felt out of my depth when I was with him."