Pushing the STOP Button – The Importance of Getting Off the Conveyor Belt

“Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you.”

– John DePaola

Sometimes our dreams can be so vivid.

And when they are, I have learned to pay attention.

A couple of weeks ago, I was having an afternoon nap on the couch in my sunroom. I had a dream that I was at a park with my good friend, Heather. My dog, Sable, was with us. In my dream, Sable was blind (just like she was at the end of her life, as she’d had both eyes removed due to glaucoma).

While Heather and I were chatting, Sable wandered away and somehow managed to climb up on a conveyor belt, of all things. It was a conveyor belt that went both up and around…like a luggage carousel at an airport.

So there sat my beloved blind German Shepherd, going up the conveyor belt to goodness knows where. I saw her just in time to see her disappear through the door at the top. I raced over and jumped on the conveyor belt, hoping to find her at the top. Heather called out to me to STOP! But I ignored her…I had to save Sable. She was blind – what if she fell off?

The conveyor belt carried me to the top and through the door…which is when I saw Sable on the other side, coming back towards me. She was smiling away, just like she did in real life. So I jumped from where I was, over to her, and gave her a huge hug…relieved beyond belief that she was okay.

By this time, the conveyor belt was making its way back down again to where we’d started. And there, standing at the bottom, was Heather and some other woman waiting for us. While I had been chasing Sable, Heather had gone to get help. When Sable and I reached the bottom, the woman pushed the big red STOP button and Sable and I got off.

Heather looked at me and just shook her head. When it came to my dogs, she knew I would do anything for them…including putting my own safety at risk.

Then I woke up.

And the dream’s meaning (my interpretation of it, anyway) quickly became evident. I think it was a little message sent up to me from my subconscious. For the past four months, I have been working insanely hard. Although I have been loving every moment of it, I realize my body, mind and spirit need a rest.

However, regardless of who we are, or what we do, we ALL need a break now and then…jump off the old treadmill for a bit of a breather.

So I am doing just that for the next week 😊

I hope you, too, are able to get in some downtime this summer. The past four months of this pandemic have impacted people very differently. But regardless of our personal circumstances, we are all part of a still-unfolding global health crisis. That takes it’s toll on the human spirit.

“When we rest our energy is restored.”

– Lailah Gifty Akita

Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. To receive her weekly blog, Weekly Words of Wisdom, please sign up here.