In which she ponders anxiety dreams

Traditionally people dream about being in public without any clothes on, or of turning up at an exam unprepared, or of their teeth falling out. (The latter is supposed to symbolise some kind of insecurity, I think. For me it symbolises my guilt about not brushing my teeth often enough. Sometimes a tooth is just a tooth.)

I've had each of those but most of my anxiety dreams have been about

• being on the beach when the tide starts coming in quicker than I can get above the tideline(*) (symbolising an impending deadline)
• or packing to go [home from Korea|back to Korea|to France|New Caledonia|America|the Netherlands] and/or trying to sort out passport details at the airport (symbolising that I'm about to, or want to, go home/overseas again)

Except now. Now my anxiety dreams are about the leather on my shoes cracking and splitting through. Dear Dream-Engine: WTF?

(*) I haven't had them as much since a twist on the dream had me on the beach, and a tsunami came in and washed over me and I was perfectly fine. Or alternatively, I haven't had them as much since I left the deadline-rich environments of school and uni.