Every day in the leadup to Christmas, open the door to reveal a Spinoff writer’s short, sizzling commentary on a weighty subject. Our arbitrary and strictly enforced word limit: 365. Today: Alex Casey on dreams. 

If nobody talked about their dreams, we wouldn’t have The Terminator. We wouldn’t have Google. We wouldn’t have Einstein’s theory of relativity. We wouldn’t have ‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles. We wouldn’t have Twilight. We wouldn’t have the sewing machine. We wouldn’t even have the concept of DNA, which means there would be no scientific string to hold us together and our bums would probably fall out or something.

What I’m trying to say to everyone who thinks dreams are “boring” and “a waste of my time, please stop holding up the queue” is that talking about your dreams is cool and interesting and sometimes extremely delicious. For example: the other day I dreamed that I went to a Nando’s on top of a snowy mountain and ordered a juicy chicken breast crusted in a Peri-Peri and parmesan crumb. Yum, eh?

Truthfully, I enjoy nothing more than cracking open an ice cold fizz and sharing dreams with extremely interested friends, colleagues and passing strangers. It’s like a movie, but for free! Like a story, except your brain has already made it for you! Sometimes you get murdered by Freddy Krueger at Rainbow’s End! Sometimes your boyfriend cheats on you and you can’t speak to him IRL for two days straight! What a weird thing, to be alive!!!!

Sometimes it’s easier to talk about your dreams than it is to open up about your deepest anxieties and desires. For example, it’s a lot easier for me to say ‘the subject of this story I’m working on keeps turning up in my nightmares inside my childhood home’ than ‘I’m not handling this work well and I need to talk about it’. On the flip-side, I’m also making intricate plans to make my Nando’s desires a reality. This is my Terminator.

Basically, the next time you want to dismiss a dreamy yarn, take a moment to consider the intricate, ridiculous, incredible wonder of our drunken human mind grapes and the nonsense they spout. Take a moment to consider Twilight. And ‘Yesterday’. And Google. Finally, if you ever need someone to tell your dreams to this holiday season, my email is alex@thespinoff.co.nz.

Read the Spinoff Hot Take Advent Calendar in full here