On Being a Heroine

I had a very vivid dream last night. It was long, so I'll sum up:

I was backpacking around Ottawa, with nothing but a small bag containing a change of underpants, a spare pair of socks and a water bottle. Suddenly, a giant alien robot started raining destruction upon the city. I somehow knew that I'd be safe of the other side of river so a couple of intrepid friends and I bolted from the safety of the underground mall we were hiding out in to the bank of the river. It was out in the open, but the alien robot was far enough away to give us some time to cross.

I started to wade in, when the water magically turned to salt (some kind of protective spell), with the consistency of wet sand. I forced my way out further, but by the time I got shoulder deep, I couldn't move at all. We stood panicking for a few minutes, watching the alien robot crushing Ottawa. But then, a young man appeared on the shore and called out: "I know the spell, I know the words! It's a song!" He waded in and sang the first line to me, and I sang it back. The salt started to loosen. He kept singing, and I tentatively followed. Soon, I realized that I knew the words (without actually knowing the song) and within a few lines, we were both singing together. The salt once again turned to water and I swam across the river.

I got to the other side and scaled up the building that stood right on the bank. Once there, I looked out the window and saw nothing but desert and desolation. Somehow, though, I knew that we would be safe and make this place habitable and prosperous. [We may even call it "This Land"!!! :P]

Over the years, I've found that I often dream of major catastrophes and/or post-apocalyptic futures. The thing is, though, I'm always the heroine. I'm the one saving myself and those with me. Or leading the resistance. Or defeating the bad guy. Or slipping past the invasion forces. But always something totally badass in the face of adversity.

I don't really have true nightmares anymore, either. I have discomforting dreams sometimes. Ones that when I wake up, I know that I've just seen some kind of refection of myself that was not terribly flattering, or some truth that I was avoiding or ignoring.

So what do my dreams tell me? Over my years of studying dreams, I've come to the conclusion that most dreams are one or more of the following: your own hopes/fantasies/fears, your subconscious trying to tell you something, and random images from the last few weeks.

I'm usually able to interpret my dreams based on those guidelines. But some things I've yet to figure out, such as this theme of "Post-Apocalyptic Heroine" which seems to pop up so often in my dreams. It just doesn't fit with any of the categories above, nor does it fit with my personality...

Perhaps some day I'll learn why. For now, I'll just keep kicking ass and believing that if we're ever invaded, people can count on me to lead the revolution. Vive la Resistance!!!