I dreamed that my body wouldn’t move.
When someone at the company dinner told me to raise my glass, my fingertips froze.
At a company dinner, Subin is suddenly asked to lead a toast. She relives the moment her body froze as she remembers a dream from a few days earlier.
At the company dinner, Subin freezes, unable to take the glass her colleague offers. The scene from her dream, where her body wouldn’t move, comes back to her. Each time something similar happens, words decided for her by someone else make her feel smaller. Jirisan Mansin Mansin doesn’t treat the dream as a sign of what’s to come, but looks with her at where the dream and waking life meet.
When Your Body Stops First
Rather than holding on to the dream as a bad omen, looking together at real-life moments that resemble it may make the next scene a little clearer.
In the recent moment when you felt as though your body had stopped, who asked you to do what?
The moment my hand wouldn’t move even though a glass was held out to me has stayed with me. I felt that scene was less the dream telling me what would happen and more a sign of my body reacting to something I couldn’t say while awake. If you’re going through a similar moment, you can start by telling me what happened then.
Scenes
- 01 · Suddenly Asked to Lead a Toast — As the sound of grilling meat began to fade, Minseok held out an empty glass in front of Subin. Minseok: Subin, you’re leading the toast today. Subin: Me?
- 02 · The Ceiling in the Dream — Three days earlier, at dawn, Subin woke to a dream in which her body wouldn’t move.
- 03 · A Hand Frozen Again — When the glass appeared in front of me, my hand followed slowly, just like in the dream. Minseok: What’s wrong? Say something, quick. Subin: Just a moment.
- 04 · Laying Out the Dream — Subin brings up the company dinner first, then says she had a dream in which her body wouldn’t move. Subin: I dreamed that I couldn’t move. Ever since then, I get scared whenever something similar happens. Jirisan Mansin: Your body stopped in the dream, and then it stopped again at the company dinner. Shall we look together at what came first in between?
Stories by Jirisan Mansin
- Jirisan Mansin
- I want to let go of my parents’ expectations, but I open the almanac again while doing the dishes.
- I say yes to family right away, then feel uneasy on the way home.
- You said we should get dinner, then paid first.
- When I take care of my parents’ workouts, my share keeps growing too.
- After the work dinner, my partner’s stubbornness feels even stronger.
- Even as I wake my child, last night’s fortune comes to mind.
- After dreaming about losing money, I open my wallet at the dinner table.
- I apologized first thing after waking up.