Where Are We?

An introduction to A Change of Dreamery.

The idea just popped into my head. A bit like it was dropped there by some Muse.

“A change of dreamery”

I love a good pun. And also traveling as a way to escape my troubles. It seemed perfect. The perfect title for an essay I would write for this as-yet-unnamed Substack I was starting to think about maybe planning to create.

And then I sat with it. I discovered that ‘dreamery’ is actually a word and not just a punny joke from my creative mind. And suddenly it moved from Essay Title to Substack Title. Instead of one momentary story among all the others, a change of dreamery became the purpose for telling the story.

So that’s why we’re here.

But where, exactly, is here?

Bear with me. I promise I’ll get to that. First I want to get us all on the same page before I tell you what the page is.

If you haven’t caught it yet, let me be blunt. “A change of dreamery” is a play on the phrase “a change of scenery.” As in I need one. Desperately. The reasons can be myriad: Feeling stagnant or uninspired. Boredom. Needing fresh air. A desire to explore something new.

Ok now that I’ve written those out, it’s seeming like maybe they’re all related to each other. There’s a common thread of everything feeling the same—stale, stuck. Because of that, we find it hard to experience beauty. Joy. Motivation. And so we seek out a change of scenery—something that feels new and fresh.

What I love is that the change exists on a spectrum. Maybe you just rearrange the furniture in your living room so it feels like a different place. Or you make a list of places in your county that you’ve never been to before and set off to explore. For a slightly bigger change, you plan a trip to a city you’ve never been to and spend a few days letting it reveal its secrets. And sometimes you get desperate enough to uproot your life, move across the country (or the world), and set about finding home somewhere entirely different than where you were before.

I’m still figuring all of this out, but I think a change of dreamery could exist on the same spectrum. Maybe there’s a small part of your current dream landscape that could be changed up so you see it in a new way. Or perhaps you’ve been looking at one part of it all this time and there’s more behind you to explore if you just pivot and acknowledge its presence. For that slightly bigger change, you could visit a new dreamscape for a bit. See what else is out there. And then there are the moments when it’s time to say goodbye to one dream and move yourself entirely into a new one—maybe it’s sight unseen or maybe you’ve visited before and now it’s time to live there.

I find myself in that last version. And honestly that scares the shit out of me in some ways. But in other ways, it feels exactly right.

And so I’m contemplating the question: Are we allowed to change our dreams?

[I know some of you are saying, “Change my dreams? I’m not even sure I’m allowed to pursue them.”]

Spoiler alert: I think the answer to the question is yes. But I’m a verbal processor, so I’d rather explore why I think that with you. I want to know what you think, too.

So that’s where “here” is: A place to think and talk about our dreams. What it means to have and explore them, to pursue them, and even to change them. It’s a place for storytelling—both yours and mine—and community. Because this is a journey we’re embarking on. And all the best journeys have companions.

And puns.