Oprah and Houses

What the heck is Oprah doing in my dreams? I've been experiencing some bizarre nighttime adventures, and I don't think they have anything to do with having a bowl of yogurt and blueberries before heading off to slumberland.

Oprah only starred in one of my two recent dreams, but it was a doozy. She was working for the same major corporation as I, in a leadership role that affected me. She told me I lived too far away from the company, and I should sell my property and move closer to Seattle, and my job. She was nice about it, but I got the feeling that if I didn't comply, my job could become....no longer my job.

The other dream also had to do with changing residences, again moving out of the country and closer to the city. Since living in "the city" would be a 24-hour nightmare for me, and since I rarely remember my dreams, I interpreted the fact that these two back-to-back mind ramblings really stuck with me as a sign that I needed to consider what I'm trying to tell myself.

I remember musing in the Oprah dream about what moving closer to "the job" would mean. It would mean giving up everything I have right now that will support me in my new career - acreage, horses, a barn, an arena, a round pen, and the room to grow. It didn't feel good, I remember that so clearly. I was conflicted. Notice that I wasn't really concerned about losing my current job, just that I would have to give up the things I love that will be a part of my new career.

When I finally woke up, my mind was racing. The commute to my current job (with a major corporation in downtown Seattle) is long, two hours one way, and involves cars, trains and shuttles. It's a big chunk out of the day. However, it's worth it to live where we are, on this little piece of heaven on earth, where as I type this I'm watching deer eat grass right outside my office window.

I don't think the dream was about the commute, though. I've been doing that for 10 years. I think it was about CHANGE. Not just about moving down the path to a new future and the fear that engenders in me. It had to do with how it's going to get done. If this had been a year ago, two years ago, I think I might have jumped at the idea of doing the safe thing. But now, I can see that the future I'm envisioning for myself is a real possibility, and the only one who can screw it up is me. Big, scary stuff.

What hit me, though, is that I'm not in this by myself. I can see that the support and guidance and the community we're building is what is going to keep me going. I'm not used to the concept of a village. I came from a Midwest family who always went it alone. The path I'm on now requires that I keep moving out of my comfort zone of MeMyselfAndI and trust, trust, trust that all will be well, and my support team will actually SUPPORT me. ME. Wow. And I get to support them, too. Double WoW.

What better messenger than that rags-to-riches queen of community, Oprah, to bring this to my attention? Thanks, sister. I needed that.