Every now and then, I’ll have an anxiety dream.
I guess it happens because I hold things in and don’t express my feelings enough. Or maybe because my subconscious is a big baby. Either way, it happens.
For instance, just before the start of a new semester, I’ll dream that I can’t find the right classroom. Why I, as the teacher, should be worried about that, I don’t know. In all my years of teaching, I’ve only gone to the wrong room once.
That was in the middle of the semester. I got off the elevator one floor too soon without noticing it, and walked on auto-pilot to the room directly below the room I was supposed to be in. I stood behind the lectern for several seconds, rustling my papers, before looking up at a roomful of puzzled strangers.
Now that I do some of my teaching online and use technology in the classroom, I occasionally dream about forgetting my university password or losing an important digital file just when I need it the most. That at least is realistic.
A couple nights ago I had my first low-carb diet anxiety dream.
In it, my wife and I were travelling. At our hotel, I received a fax from my doctor. “This looks important,” the desk clerk said, handing the document to me.
Indeed, at the top, the fax read, “Alarming News!”
Below that heading was my total cholesterol count: 1,268.
“This can’t be right!” I said. Then I woke up.
I understand why some experts recommend having your blood lipids checked a couple months into your diet; if nothing else, it can put your subconscious mind at ease. And, of course, good numbers can serve as motivation.
My annual physical is still over a month away, and my conscious mind sees no reason to have blood drawn before then. I will have been eating low-carb for half-a-year by then, and whatever the numbers are, the diet will have had a fair chance to influence them.
But today I had a checkup with a specialist (it’s a long story and nothing serious) and I had my blood pressure taken for the first time since I started losing weight.
In the past, my BP has been around 135 over 75 — give or take a few points on either end.
Today it was 110 over 65. I can’t remember ever having a systolic pressure under 120 or a diastolic pressure under 70.
I realize that BP varies a lot, and you need to have it taken several times to get a true picture. That is, my conscious mind realizes it.
My subconscious mind is looking at 110/65, and feeling good!
Congratulations!
Kateryna