A nightmare is still a dream.

For much of life, I was unable to enjoy my dreams because I was scared of having a nightmare.

Years ago, I started to make a silent request that my dreams would go away. When that didn’t work, I would attempt to erase my dreams from memory.

Unfortunately, trying to prevent the memory of a potential nightmare, compromised the experience of my favorable dreams. Eventually, I decided that trying to avoid the occasional nightmare, was not worth the risk of losing my dreams altogether.

When I stopped resisting the nightmares, the way that I experienced them shifted. They weren’t “bad”, they were just things I didn’t understand. And as I sit with them, I learn from them.

In the same respect that a nightmare is still a dream, the unpleasant things in life are still apart of life. We can try to prevent or erase them from our existence, but we may risk compromising something beautiful in the process.

Nightmares may come– But if you want to dream; you have to dream.