A Life in an Alternate Dimension

I had been going through a dream drought here lately. School, work and taking care of the family has been creating a lack of sleep for me. This morning's dream arose out of this current situation and concerns, and developed as a montage of images. I believe I have been given a glimpse into a life of myself in an alternate reality this time. In this alternate life I was severely burned in an accident in my early twenties. My body and face are scarred and disfigured. I was in a lot of pain. I cannot seem to recall the nature of the accident. My mind has created a mental block preventing me from remembering how it happened. The incident was so horrific that I do not want to relive it.

It takes years of surgeries and physical therapy to create something of a normal life for myself. My options for employment seem very limited in this life. I settle into becoming a writer. I write books and articles in this life. It is something I can do from home and spare myself the trauma of dealing with the stares of the public.

However, a time comes in this life, when I reach my early thirties and I become discontented with how my chosen profession is going, and I decide to take my career in a new direction. I become a news correspondent and an investigative reporter. I travel around the country and the world. I interview people, report and write stories, and even go into war zones.

I confront my own phobias, insecurities and force myself to be a more public person. I become much more confident in my abilities and grow as human being. My life is transformed.

At the conclusion of this dream I am sitting in a chair in the living room of my home. I am a much older man. I see parts of my body are smoking and crumbling to dust. The fire that burned me in my early twenties has continued to smolder in my body all these years and now has consumed me from the inside out. Perhaps it is a metaphor? I cannot imagine it would be the result of an actual medical condition. Spontaneous combustion? Perhaps the laws of physics work differently in this reality? Who knows?

I awake with the sense of having lived a whole life time in this alternate dimension. I come out of it with the feeling of having gained a lifetime of experiences in only a few hours. It is a comforting and disquieting feeling all at the same time. Yet one more dream that I will be pondering the implications of for some time to come.