It seems as if the sleep experts all agree on the notion that dreams only last a short fraction of your nightly sleep cycle. After last night, I respectfully beg to differ. Last night, I had the kind of dream that seemed to go on forever and that is usually not the one where you are running in a field of clover with a mint julep in your hand. In last night’s dream, I was being chased by and running from an amorphous blob which threatened to envelop me. It was the consistency of tar, but viscous like motor oil and if it enveloped me, I didn’t know of any way to escape. As it had me cornered on a stairwell, it finally occurred to me what this blob represented. It was a living manifestation of fear. Once I realized what I was dealing with, I mustered all of the willpower I could command in that dream and pulled away. It stopped chasing me and disappeared.

After all of the years of talking about Fearless Caregiving, this dream showed me the next dimension of fearlessness, and that is the key to fearlessness is to be found within each and every one of us. Fear is as immobilizing and brainless as that blob which sought to control me in my dream, and I have come to realize that the antidote is awareness, education and action. Like the person who gets their pilots license in order to conquer their fear of flying or the person who joins Toastmasters to conquer their fear of public speaking, the things we face, learn about and master are those things which will never frighten us again. And this lesson can be transferred into our daily lives as caregivers. Become involved, join an appropriate support group, never stop asking questions, care for yourself as well as you care for your loved one and you will remain fearless.

Sweet Dreams.

Gary Barg
Editor-in-Chief
gary@caregiver.com