Walking in a Dreamworld

I like to daydream a lot. Maybe too much. Where does the line blur between ADHD distraction and creative dreamer? I've spent so much time in that blurry domain that you would think I would be an expert at understanding it. Sometimes daydreams can become nightmares when they turn into ruminations of worst case scenarios, but often they just take me away from the drab, dun colors of reality.

I wish I spent more time daydreaming about my own writing. That's something I feel I should do more of. There are untold tales in my head that could be formed into compelling stories to be shared with others. That was what I was trying to do two weeks ago on a cold January night at 2:30am.

There I was, hiking along in my own world, thinking about what project I should be working on next, when I noticed to my right a part of my shadow was moving independently of me. It seemed to roil and bubble out of the corner of my eye. Not missing a step, as I was walking briskly to a snappy J-pop techno tune, I watched the shadow and studied it. I soon realized it was a field mouse running for its life alongside me, hiding in the darkest part of the shadow where the road met the curb. The poor thing was trapped between me and that tall curb and couldn't get away.

We walked along together for a bit, perambulating in the dark, before I decided to film it. Perhaps there was enough moonlight to capture this event, I thought. As I opened the camera app on my iPhone, though, I missed a beat for a mere step just as we came to a break in the curb, and my nocturnal companion was gone.

I took a moment to look around for it, but I knew it was in vain. What I experienced was pure happenstance and not likely to ever be repeated again. What I found most surprising was that I was not phased at all by the roiling, shifting shadow. I figured out what it was almost instantly. I was even a bit disappointed it turned out to be so mundane. But! I wasn't alarmed.

I was so deep in thought, so full of daydreamy notions, that I walked into the pages of a book and didn't notice. I don't know what I expected to find in that shadow, but it certainly wasn't an ordinary field mouse.


Follow me on Twitter for my ADHD escapades as @SplinteredMind. I also explore iPhone photography with Instagram as douglascootey (peek). And if you're a glutton for punishment you can friend me on Facebook as well, or find me on Path where I explore my coping strategy processes with varying results..