A few recent dreams

First, let me start with a little context: I took up tarot as a hobby during the pandemic. I do dream-themed readings at parties for fun, and the image above shows some of the dreams I’ve heard recently. I think a list like this (or any other collection of five dreams) can tell us a lot about the underlying nature of peoples’ dreams.

What do all of these dreams have in common? They all involve work, but they don’t involve labor. Each of these dreams require personal effort: taking a vacation involves a lot of planning, making a decision about the Olympics has training implications, and feeling comfortable expressing yourself differently requires self-reflection and practice. But this type of effort is not the same as labor, which is to say these particular dreams have nothing to do with jobs. For the most part, what happens between the hours of 9-5 has little to do with our actual dreams. Yes, to buy a house we need a job. But for a lot of people, the job is a means to some other end. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say that their dream involves working a job.

The topic of jobs comes up a lot in dreaming, of course. But it tends to be along the lines of leaving a current job for another that will provide a more “work-life balance” (i.e. time to pursue dreams). Even the idea of a “dream job” is a bit of a contradiction in terms. If someone says a their job is a dream job because it provides the means for pursuing other dreams (like time for hobbies, vacations, meeting interesting people, etc.), that’s great(!), but that’s a little different than a job that is actually dreamy.

Does anyone have a job that is actually dreamy? As in, it’s something you would gladly do in your free time? If so, please share.