Get lost to find it.

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This was the first time she came to this forest on her own. She wanted was some alone time in a place that she knew and that would give some sense of calmness. She had had some troubled days dealing with issues with people in her life, and with herself.

 

She thought she knew this forest well because she had been here many times with friends. They had come here just to walk around for a few hours. It helped them relax.

 

Today, she had arrived here at around ten in the morning. It was about an hour drive from her home. She started walking. It was very relaxing. The tall and green trees made her happy. Not only that, she also liked watching animals in nature.

 

She continued walking. She liked the walk even more this time because there was no one around her now. No one to be distracted by. Her plan was working perfectly.

 

After walking for two hours, she sat down to get some snacks. She had another hour to go. So, she wanted to get a bit more energized.

 

As she ate, she watched the tree leaves being moved gently by the wind. The wind was very soft. She liked it whenever it touched her cheek.

 

After she rested, she started walking again. Since she was now closer to the end of her walk than to the beginning, she started wondering where the exit location was. She had always followed others and had never paid attention to the directions. But she was still confident that she would find it, because she had been here many times after all.

 

She was wrong. All she remembered was that at some point where trails diverged, she needed to go left. But there were so many of them. There was some divergence point every ten minutes or so. She had not even noticed these before.

 

She decided to go left at each of these points to make sure that she did not miss the real exit. How much time could it take anyway? She would easily notice a wrong trail one she entered it, right?

 

But she did not. Each time she took a wrong route, it took her about an hour to come back to the diverging point. This happened four times and she was now very exhausted, very thirsty and very angry. She wanted to shout as loudly as she could. She wanted to cry as loudly as she could. Why on earth had she not paid attention to the route before?

 

She sat there in despair. All she wanted now was to have someone rescue her. Just be taken by the arm and be walked. Guided towards the end. But that did not happen.

 

So, she had to stand up and continue walking. She walked for around 15 minutes and came across another diverging point. She noticed a sign there. She had not noticed any sign before. What did it say? She wondered and wanted to check. She came closer.

 

It said ‘Exit to the left’.

 

That was what she needed since after the break. But how had she not seen this sign before? Apparently, she had relied on her friends’ expert knowledge too much.

 

She also wished there were signs at other points too. Signs that said something like ‘Wrong. Continue walking to the right. Exit later.’

 

With some relief but also frustration, she continued to the left. At least, she now knew she was on the right path.

 

Just as she was feeling that, she heard her alarm clock go off. It was morning already. She opened her eyes and immediately went to write her dream in her dreambook. As she was writing, she was also thinking what her dream could mean. Initially, she did not have an idea. Later, it occurred to her that maybe her dream was a reflection of her recent personal struggles, which she had tried many different things to solve with the help of her friends and wanted to escape from now. If so, was there a sign she was missing in life too? What and where was it? She did not know.

 

Instead of thinking about that, she just went to the kitchen to get her morning coffee. That was, after all, easier than thinking.