What’s the solution when years of dreaming come to nought

What’s the solution when years of dreaming come to nought?

I don’t pay much heed to chasing dreams seen in my sleep, because I believe in the theories behind dreams. Dreams are but secret desires brought to the fore by your unconscious. Unless we talk about dreams in the context of achieving ambitions. Now that’s a whole different ball game. An ambition can be pursued with goal, input, and work to go towards achieving that goal.

I dream, but there are other factors that influence the outcome of my dream. Some of us spend years chasing an academic qualification, only to falter and fall flat when we are defeated by unsuccessful job applications. All industries are filled with over-qualified workers and new candidates clamoring to wear old shoes already filled. Supply exceeds demand. Dreams can be such dangerous things: they smolder, and sometimes consume us completely. Then, we find that all those years of dreaming come to nought.

Dreams once noble turn

misadventures, where the end

game is survival.

In a parallel universe separated by a thin veil, an elderly mother struggles to protect her son. He is a prisoner held captive by the mistake of his youth. His captors demand a price for his ransom. She refuses to acknowledge the demand as valid. The mother dreams of saving her son. The years pass. What happens when years of dreaming come to nought? What’s the solution when years of dreaming come to nought?

She searches for opportunities to capture another person to use as a prisoner for exchange, to redeem her son. Alas, people who have the might to bankroll a ransom, are not compliant to this idea. Why should they?

Related

This prompt is a quote chosen by Violet.

“dreams can be such dangerous things: they smolder, and sometimes consume us completely.”― Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha.

Her post and written response is at https://violetslentz.home.blog/2026/05/14/three-nights/