Hello fellow dreamers,Dezzy-PoohDezz here. I know it's been a while since I have been on and active, but life always gets in the way. That actually ties into what I am here to talk about today.
(This article took me a long time to write. Anyone who wants a tl;dr will be dealt with accordingly. It took me a while to write this, and I would appreciate it if you actually read it all the way through.)
Life is chaotic. It's just a fact. It seems like things always get in the way of lucid dreaming, and we go back to our everyday, zombie-like routine. I know I have fallen victim to it this month. Sometimes, even, it can get in the way of you truly enjoying and appreciating your life for what it is. For example, I have been so caught up with school and social-life (Everyone knows how stressful being social can be. That's why I prefer my computer screen!) that I have no time for anything but school work and more school work.
Let's be honest, that's not even true. I have so much time. School is only 7 and 1/2 hours of my life, if we exclude lunch and such, per day. I am sleeping for 8 of those hours. That leaves me with around 8 hours a day for me to do whatever I please. We're not even counting weekends here people! So, 8 hours a day, and what do I do? Well, I start off with homework, which can take up a max of 2 hours of my day, and that's the MAX. So, after some insanely hard number crunching, that leaves me with 6 hours of my day to do whatever I please. Multiply that by 5 and you end up with 30 hours a school week, excluding weekends. Add the weekends in and you get about 16 hours x 2, leaving me with 32 hours, minus 4 for weekend homework, on average, and I am left with 28 hours. So, I have 58 hours a week that could be spend whichever way I choose. (Author's Note: Did I even mention that 8 hours every night isn't wasted completely? I mean, lucid dreaming, am I right?)
What do I choose to waste it on? Well, escaping reality, of course. I'm not talking in a good way, either. I mean playing Planetside 2 to escape my problems and to pass time, because I am too afraid to do anything else.
Perhaps "afraid" isn't the right word. "Intimidated" is the better one. I'm actually intimidated by the fact that I could progress and make my life even better. I am not truly happy with the way I live my life right now. I can openly admit to that. I might be a good student, but I can be even better. I might be a good person, but I could be even better. I might be an adept lucid dreamer, but I could be even better. I could improve, and change my life style to something I am truly happy with. It may not seem like there is time, but when you get down to it, there really is.
Now, I am done ranting about my own life, and am going to come to the part that actually matters. I'll start with one the areas of my life that I am truly thankful for. That would be my father.
There aren't a lot of people out there like my father. He's a very deep thinker, who is a great inspiration to me. He always seems to speak through words better than I ever could. Always seems to get his point across.
We very rarely get to sit down and just talk, which is something I wish I could change. When we do, we usually get to talk about something that drives me forward to try and be a better person. He always says, "I have been a very mediocre person up until now. I have been completely average with the way I live. I have a job, which is not what I want to do in life. I am making a fair bit of money and live in an upper-class society. My true aspiration in life is to become a writer. I don't want to die an average person. I want to look back and be happy that I did what I did."
It wasn't until a few months ago did I really get to see this part of my father. I never knew we shared so many things, and I never knew we we're so much alike. I am thankful for someone like him in my life. I have never realized up until now about how much like him I really am. There's only one other person in the world that I can really connect to like I do with him, and that'd be my friend Lauren. She's very different from both my father and I, but she's also a very deep thinker. She's not mindless like the rest of my school. She's a very philosophical person, but she's very pessimistic about the world. None the less, she's one of my favorite people in the world, and I am glad I have her in my life.
I actually haven't even gotten to the point of the story that really matters. It's an idea that came from my father. He is actually writing a book right now, but I can't really talk about it just quite yet. Hell, I haven't even gotten to read the rough draft of the damn thing. The pre-title was "90 Days of Awesomeness". The idea centers around self-improvement and making yourself happier in life through hard work and perseverance. At the inception of this book, I wasn't very heavily into lucid dreaming like I am today. The idea of self-improvement through lucid dreaming hadn't come to me yet. With the first few conversations my father and I had about the book, he had mentioned that he wishes to incorporate this idea into his lifestyle. "For instance, I would start with 5 push-ups a day, and add 5 on each day. By the end of the 90 days, I would be doing a large amount of push-ups per day. You start small and the growth is exponential."
I let the idea go, and I had no interest in applying the ideal to my own lifestyle, but I WAS interested to see if he would stick with the actual 90 Days of Awesomeness. To my actual surprise, him and my step-mother stuck with it all the way through the entire 90 days. They attempt to do this twice a year, or at least they used to.
Fast forward a few years, and we get into my step-mother's story. She always wanted to go to school to be a chef, but kept putting it off year after year. My father said to her, "You will regret it in 10 years when it's too late. Just do it. I'll pay for it and you'll get to live your dream."
Now, she's about to go into her last year of schooling to become a chef. She starts in a few weeks. This ideal has stuck with them, and it couldn't make me happier. I have gotten to watch them grow and achieve their dreams, and now I want to do the same. I'm starting young. I'm only 16. I have a lot of time, and I am very mature for my age.
So, tonight, Lauren and I got to talking. We started off by just sending a few funny pictures of cats to one another. Then, we got to talking about the relationships going on in our lives. I started off by saying there was this girl in my Orchestra who enjoys anime, and is stunningly beautiful. I thought to myself, "She's a junior, so it wont work out..."
Lauren and I talked for a little while and came to the conclusion that life isn't fair, and is insignificant with no meaning. (See how she can be a little bit of a downer?)
We stopped talking for a while, and she went to take a shower. I decided to head to my room and sit on my roof. I enjoy it up there, as it's quiet, and I can look at the stars without any interruption. Out there, it's just me and my deep thoughts. I doubt people of my age really go down deep into their thoughts as much as I do, but that's a good story for another time. (Perhaps a sequel to this post? *hint*)
It was then that all the crickets stopped... chirping? Is that the right word? Well, it was silent. Nothing but the sound of cars on the street a few hundred yards from my house. It was pure silence, and I closed my eyes, appreciating life to it's fullest, in these little moments. Then, inspiration hit me. I decided to pull out my phone and sent a text to Lauren. "I propose something," I said.
"What?" she responded.
"For a full month, how about we be as happy as we can be? Let nothing stand in our way."
"I'm down for that. Night Nate!"
I decided to take it a step further and make it tie in with lucid dreaming.
So, now I propose "30 Days of Lucidity", where we make the fullest of our lives, focused and try to stay stress free. This isn't some kind of "competition" thread, but rather just food for thought. It doesn't have to be this month, it doesn't have to happen ever. I just suggest that every single one of you take the time out of your day to just hit the brakes and try. Try to improve on your life. For most, that will mean trying to improve on lucid dreaming. I believe that lucid dreaming is easier when you don't have so much on your mind, and you can focus without stressing. When you are happier, you have more lucid dreams, which makes you happier, and then you have more lucid dreams. It just builds upon itself. Not only will you be having more lucid dreams, but you'll be happy. You'll appreciate life just that little more.
Now, I, personally, will be starting upon this tomorrow, September 8th, 2014. My lists of goals follows below:
- Let nothing stand in my way. This is my month to make the most of. Don't let hesitation stand in your way, and just go for it.
Who knows, maybe I could ask out the girl in my Orchestra class?
- Nothing brings me down. There is always something to be happy about. If there isn't, just remember things get better. Well, they get better if you make them better.
- Stress is key. Don't let it happen.
- Take time to appreciate the people in my life. Even the ones I don't really care for.
- Take time to appreciate nature, which is a large inspiration for me. Make the walk home a little less boring by taking in all the detail of our wonder-filled world.
- Become lucid. Not just in my dreams, but in real life. Being situation-ally aware is always a good thing!
- Don't give up. Stick with it. I know that 30 Days may seem hard, but do it. It's worth it in the end.
Hope you guys took at least something away from this. I always try to give back to the community, and keep this part of my life with me at all times. No matter how long it may seem like I am inactive, i'll always come back, and that's a guarantee. If you want to thank me or want to start your own 30 Days of Lucidity, feel free to message me and we can chat it up a little bit. I'll more than likely be adding onto this story with new ideas when I feel like it, and maybe even a few dream journal entries. It's been a good day guys, and hope the next 30 are even better.
