I went to bed the other night stressed and anxious. This has been happening a lot lately.

I was overwhelmed with everything I had to do . It had all become too much and I had that anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was stressed. Fearful. Angry. Shameful. I felt defeated.

Then I had a dream while I was sleeping. Dreams are weird and so is this one, but the point was simple.

In the dream, I had gone to some kind of collectors museum with my family and purchased a pack of gum that was worth $2000. It was some kind of famous antique gum or something. In the pack of gum there were 2 pieces.

I somehow had lost one already so there was only one left. My 7-year-old nephew asked if he could look at it. I told him he could if he was very careful with it. He grabbed the gum and doing what kids do he popped that last piece of gum in his mouth and started chewing.

After a quick moment of panic and disappointment, I quickly realized what was important. It didn’t matter that I just lost $1000. What mattered is how much my nephew was enjoying the gum. He was chewing and smiling. Having a blast.

It suddenly all made sense. Who cares about the money? The point is to enjoy the gum.

I told him to really enjoy the gum and be sure to tell his friends he chewed a $1000 piece of gum. He then started to cry realizing what he had done. I put my arm around him, laughed, and told him if there is anyone in the world I would want to chew that gum, it was him. He was worth a million pieces of $1000 gum. He smiled and continued to enjoy the gum. I smiled and felt a peace in the pit of my stomach I hadn’t felt all day.

After that, all the stuff I was worried about started to seem silly. What was really important is that my nephew enjoyed the gum. At that moment, nothing else mattered.

Why does that have to change after I wake up?

Enjoy the gum.

- Chris