It’s not quite running away to join the circus, but last night’s dream involved my having agreed (pre-dream, of course, because this would never have happened had I been conscious of it) to participate in some kind of onstage hypnotism demonstration. The demonstration itself didn’t happen in the dream; instead, it was all about the dread of anticipation and waiting to go out in front of an audience, and thinking too much about the audience themselves — their expectations and my resultant performance anxiety.
That this dream happened the night after I spent hours editing a podcast and thinking too much about the reception it would receive does not escape me. Apparently, my subconscious doesn’t try too hard, sometimes.