Feelings of Claustrophobia

I dreamt that I was in a government department to run errands. The space was small and packed with visitors. At the front of the room were cubicles manned by the staff and cordoned off with glass windows as a safety precaution. There were rows of seats for visitors to rest their legs while waiting for their numbers to be called, but some of them resorted to waiting at the corridor. Towards the side were built-in tables and shelves for people to fill in the forms at the last minute according to the department’s guideline. By the time I was there, we could barely move as we were squashed to each other. However, I wasn’t supposed to gain access in my own right and did it undercover as an office cleaner. As the department was located in a building in the city centre with lots of traffic, it was easier for Papa Carrie to pave the way for me to enter. When someone eventually discovered my identity, I rushed to the toilet stall to quickly plan an escape route without being caught.

In another scene, I rode the elevator down to the ground floor with kids in tow. I kept advising them to behave themselves instead of running around in a cramped space as well as jumping up and down. When the elevator doors opened, the kids rushed out into the wide space and disappeared into the distance. Me being the outsider that I was, I surveyed the open area and made my way to the intended place, joining the queue at the bus station while waiting for the bus ride home. I finally saw my housemate across the street and decided to tag a ride home with him since I was still unfamiliar with the bus routes. We explored the area that we were in and it wasn’t until sunset that we came to a consensus that we should head home.

So, let’s begin the dream interpretation.

For the first part of the dream, the place reminded me of the passport department with the long queue and the safety windows. Personally speaking, I reckon that the packed area could constitute the way I’m feeling about the current situation. A quick search online revealed that ‘Dreaming of being part of a crowd can indicate that some times we do not wish to stand out, or that on occasion we do not have a personal sense of direction in regards to how we should accomplish our achievements in the future – in regards to others.’ Based on the sentence alone, it is possible that I’m in a dilemma on what to do with my personal life. I’m not in the same chapter as my friends; they are already way ahead of me. And I prefer to stay behind the scenes without anyone discovering that I’m secretly envious of everything.

For the second part of the dream, hands on, for a moment I figured that I was visiting Japan because of the hiragana and kanji words on the signage. Since there were minors around, I’m going to assume that I might be working in Tokyo as a babysitter. *shrugs* Or on another spectrum, it denotes my longing to be away from this mess and everything that’s weighing me down.