I saw this piece of art (by the brilliant Adam Hale @the.daily.splice) and I stopped dead in my tracks. I will never forget the moment when I was told to stop dreaming and therefore made to feel guilty about my personal thoughts. Most people dream about things that are attainable; moving, opening a business, having a family, etc. But I tend to daydream about things that are less attainable. I escape reality by dreaming about what it would be like to date a celebrity; to have people be jealous of me, or aspire to be like me. I will never forget those haunting words, “you should stop... that’s never gonna happen”. Those words were said by someone very important to me, mind you, and it left quite the emotional scar. I’ve spent so many years feeling stupid and that I’m wasting my life dreaming about things that will never happen. But to be honest, those dreams make me happy. I can have a few moments in my life where I can finally be whom I’ve always wanted to be. Someone who is strong, confident, looked up to, loved and admired. I’m sure this goes so much deeper and that I will probably need quite a lot of therapy to work through this. But I don’t want to feel guilty anymore. I want to know and understand that it is okay to daydream, especially about things that may not be attainable, because it brings me joy. So this is what Cloud 9 is; for me at least. A safe space where I can process those terrible words said to me all those years ago. Somewhere I can write down fun meet-cutes and maybe even write some stories. I know no-one will probably never see this and that is fine. I’m not doing this for others. I’m doing this for me. Here goes.....
