Emotion thief

Date: 4/10/2021

I’ve been thinking about a dream all day and trying to make sense of it. Essentially someone broke into my house. I was terrified of him and he did threaten me, but once he felt like I wasn’t going to do anything, he left me alone and started rummaging through the house for things to steal. Eventually I managed to get out of the house, but he saw me and started chasing me down the street. I called out for help, but no one was listening. Then all of sudden I got really angry that no one heard me and I shouted at them saying “I need help and you’re all just ignoring me!” There was more but it’s not that important. What I said got their attention which is really unusual in my dreams. Usually I can’t communicate well with anyone and I struggle to help myself in nightmares. But all the people whose attention I caught started berating and shaming the thief. Then all of a sudden he looked really sad, almost like a scolded child. He dropped his backpack which had all the items he stole, including a squirrel that he’d severely injured. I think the squirrel part is what really upset me about him, but I finally looked up the symbolism for squirrel appearances in dreams. SQUIRREL: to dream about a squirrel can indicate a hoarding aspect of your personality. You may be collecting hurt feelings or things you have no need for./ Squirrels can indicate that you are involved in a business project or relationship that is going nowhere. All of the above is true for me right now, but the fact that squirrel was injured makes me wonder if I’m really starting to move past these difficult things. Or at least I know I’m trying to. I guess dreams really do reflect waking life. When I think back on all the other little trinkets he stole I think they must’ve been all the tiny little emotions and problems that I’ve been cycling over lately, so I think I’ll call this guy my emotion thief. Sort of an antihero of my unconscious mind. Maybe he’s my alter ego’s sibling...