I know doctors have the best intentions when they ask, “So, how’s your energy level? Sleeping enough? Tired?” They’re trying to uncover some underlying issue like anemia or thyroid malfunction or sleep apnea that might be making you feel fatigued or run down.
But who responds to these questions with “Hey, I feel GREAT! Tons of energy. Never sleepy. I get my 5 hours a night and I’m good to go!”?
Truth is, every person I know is tired, whether a sleep-deprived parent, a shift worker, a 7 a.m.-to-9 p.m. professional, a retired person, a hack-for-hire. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t welcome the opportunity for another hour of sleep or a midday nap.
Me, I come from a long line of nappers. My sisters and I actually build naptime into any “perfect” vacation day — breakfast, shopping, lunch, nap, dinner is pretty much the norm when we get together. Just turn on the TV, crawl into bed or onto the couch, snuggle into a throw, and we’re out in minutes.
Even now that I’m so very lucky that I rarely have to wake to an alarm, most days I still want that proverbial extra hour. And I think I know why. It’s because I’m so darn busy in my dreams wrestling with stairs and elevators.
I don’t know when this started, but it happens ALL the time. Take last night — in the middle of a perfectly innocuous dream, I’m suddenly confronted with a narrow set of basement stairs that I must climb with no handrail between me and the floor and a very skinny landing to navigate. I have some papers in my hand that I actually have to put down in order to clutch the wall.
Whoa, where’d that come from? It wasn’t a stressful dream, and then suddenly it is! Stairs that narrow dangerously as I climb, elevators that plunge or stop between floors, escalators I have to leap onto or off of — I can’t count the number of dreams I’ve had involving these hazards. And I rarely recognize I’m dreaming — they’re just scary or annoying or tiresome.
Funny, the online dream dictionaries don’t paint a bad picture:
To dream that you are walking up a flight of stairs, indicates that you are achieving a higher level of understanding. You are making progress into your spiritual/emotional/material journey. It also represents material and thoughts that are coming to the surface.
To dream that you are walking down a flight of stairs, represents your repressed thoughts. It suggests that you are going into your unconscious. It also refers to setbacks that you will experience in your life. If you are afraid of going down the stairs, then it suggests that you are afraid to confront your repressed emotions and thoughts. Is there something from your past that you are not acknowledging.
To see spiral or winding stairs signifies growth and/or rebirth.
Or this one:
If you are walking up the steps it is a sign of good luck in your present endeavors, but if you are walking downstairs expect to meet with bad luck and setbacks. If you should stumble and fall upward on the stairs you will have a happy marriage or relationship, but if you fall down them you must be more conventional in your attitude and lifestyle so you do not fall into disrespect.
All I know is, I’m always climbing those darn stairs, and it’s never good. The elevator or escalator is always malfunctioning. I’m always in danger of falling. I’m always stressed about it.
Maybe it just means I need to live in a rancher.
Until then, I’ll keep climbing upward (or trying to keep from falling downward). It’s a good metaphor for life, no?
A dream which is not interpreted is like
a letter which is not read.
~ The Talmud
Writing by Ear 
