Cuppa Terrific

Escort Earthquake

• Sheree • Season 1 • Episode 3

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A childhood game on abandoned steps, a late return from a car nap, a hallway lined with flowered offices, and the quiet announcement of an earthquake—this story moves through memory and status and lands on a question: what foundations are we really standing on? We share a dream called “Escort Earthquake” and break it down with a simple, grouped approach to symbol analysis so you can borrow the method for your own inner life. From hide-and-seek to office politics, jealousy to time scarcity, every scene points to belonging, self-worth, and the choice to rebuild.

We start with the early images—childhood innocence and an unfinished neighborhood store—as a metaphor for potential that never opened its doors. Then we shift to the office: the CEO’s passing glance, a team captain, carefully curated workspaces, and a pair of colleagues laughing in a low-status corner. That contrast reveals how comparison steals energy while supportive relationships restore it. We explore jealousy not as a flaw but as data, a compass to identify what we want more of—connection, ease, or creative play—without apologizing for it. A dream-within-a-dream returns us to a hometown carnival already over, tents bright and toys unguarded, and we ask what it means to stand across the street from our own joy.

The final turn is the earthquake: not a random disaster, but a long-anticipated shift that tests what’s load-bearing. We talk through practical takeaways—protecting time like a resource, choosing communities that nourish over rooms that impress, and reframing old stories that keep us outside the tent. If you’ve ever felt late to your own life, measured by the décor of someone else’s office, or haunted by the sense you missed something important, this conversation offers a grounded way to listen to your dreams and act on what they ask. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves dreamwork and psychology, and leave a quick review telling us which symbol hit home for you.

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Sheree:

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Cup of Terrific. I'm your host, Sheree, and this is my podcast, where I take you through uh an analysis journey on what we find in our dreams. Tonight's episode is called Escort Earthquake. It is a re-release of an older dream that I had back in 2022, and I just wanted to share it with you guys because it was an interesting analysis that I did, and I know it's an older dream, but I have been focusing on building out my um lucid dreaming and my dream journal, and then I'm gonna build out more dreams from that, and I want to get my older dream podcast that I've recorded out first as some of my first season stuff for this uh podcast. Um that's what I am doing. I am re-releasing an older episode here. Um, tonight I am drinking some Mio. It's the orange tangerine that is my preferred Mio, and I am often drinking that one. I have tried other flavors, I do like it. Um, and I do drink water all by itself, but it is my preferred version of uh Mio. And guys, as we are just starting October, our spooky season, it is also flu and cold season, so make sure you guys are staying hydrated. Alright, without further ado, please enjoy the podcast. So here we go. My next stream to analyze for you guys is actually called Escort Earthquake. And I'll go right ahead and jump into the reading for you. When are they gonna get here? I wonder out loud to myself. I'm sitting on the concrete steps of an old unfurnished building foundation. Once this building was going to be a little general store for our neighborhood. It was clear that that dream went up in smoke. It isn't long before John arrives with Rachel and Shane in tow. Finally, I thought, but said Okay, so what do we want to play today? After a few options, we decide on hide and seek. I smile and shout Not it and grab Rachel's hand and run towards the tree line. We are both laughing, tears slipping from the corner of our eyes as we run in excitement sheer joy. The alarm on my phone goes off and buzzes annoyingly. It successfully wakes me up, and I find myself in my car. I must have dozed off during my break I thought, and I checked the time. Oh jeez it was later than I'd thought, so I rushed back into the office to the back door hoping no one would notice. Looking down the hall from my office, I see women are all aware of something going on. I deduce an important visitor must be coming today. Just then I see my team captain escorting the CEO to her and her entourage up the hall. She barely notices me, but when her eyes do meet mine, look is one of complete disregard. I can't shake the feeling I have of insecurity and insignificance. Maybe she noticed I was late coming in from break. Feeling my reputation at stake, I offered to assist him by taking over escort duty. When I get the big wig and her entourage to the conference room, I decide to wait by the doors until the briefings were finished. From my vantage point, I could see a few offices that were well designed, color coordinated, and decorated with loads of flowers. These women were successful and well put together. It was beautiful and intimidating at the same time. Did I really belong here? I'm sure most of them wondered that about me too. One office along the outer wall of the building was occupied by a man. Due to his office location and its lack of privacy, I could tell he had a lower place within the organization. He was visited by another working class man, and they had a conversation with each other. From what I could tell, it was supportive, funny, and affirming. Why didn't I have that kind of relationship with any of these ladies? While I wait, I lose myself in the present train of thought and wander into a daydream. I find myself back in my hometown again, standing on the other side of the street, looking at a large group of bright-colored tents. I've missed a carnival. However, I can't help but notice lots of games and a variety of toys were left in the tents visible and unguarded. These people just trusted each other. Probably because this carnival was intended for everyone to enjoy. Too bad I missed it. I'm startled awake as the door behind me opens when the briefing concluded. The entourage exited and everyone begins locking up their offices, and notices me rubbing sleep out of my eyes. She leads the entourage away, and as she walks around the corner I shout at her. She comes back around the corner to give me the same look she had earlier that day, then continues on her way. I asked one of the leaving office workers where are they going? And they said that everyone was leaving because it was time to prepare for the much anticipated earthquake. I froze in shock and confusion. End reading. Okay, guys, so it's a little bit longer reading today, but I feel like uh I did some pretty cool analysis for you on what all of this means. I kind of did something different this time. I I grouped the different elements together, and then I have pieces to kind of explain the whole point of the different sections. I feel like this is going to be a better way to go about stuff, so bear with me. The first section I kind of go about is just analyzing the opening of the dream where I'm a child back home, and I picked out some of the elements of that portion of the dream. So, first one, pretty obvious, childhood. So to dream of your childhood indicates your wish to return to a life where you had little responsibility and worries. It also represents innocence. Alternatively, it suggests that certain aspects of your childhood have not yet been integrated into your adult personality. On the other hand, some childhood anxiety has yet to be resolved in your adult life. Okay. And then the next thing I picked up on was to dream that you're sitting on the steps suggests that you need to pause from life's demands and reevaluate your decisions, challenges, goals, and path before continuing on. And closely related to steps is stairs. I found that you know there's a little bit of information out there saying sitting on stair steps denotes a gradual rise in fortune and delight. So um the steps, I think a lot of this really captures how this child is sitting and reflecting on what could have been a dream that didn't come to fruition for the original owner's undertaking, and the benefit for the community didn't come to fruition. So they're considering um, you know, how that is going to impact what they decide to do with life. They being myself had influenced me into thinking the way that I did. I did find that hide and seek also is an element out there that you can um draw information from. So let's see. It says to dream that you're playing hide and seek means that you're keeping some information or secret that you cannot keep inside any longer. Consider whether you were the one hiding or the one seeking. If you're the one hiding, then it indicates that there's something that you're not revealing or sharing. If you're the one that's seeking, then it represents your inquisitive mind and that you desire to find more information about a particular situation. Alternatively, the dream may just be a regression into your childhood where times were more carefree and simple. And the other element I had that kind of tacks on to hide and seek is playing. So dreaming of playing in general suggests good fortune, success, and love. So there's a lot of positive things about playing. Um, and I think that this all goes into remembering what it was like to be a child, um, and and enjoying what what bit of childhood I did have. And so all together, these things just kind of what I took from it, from this section of the dream. The steps to the unfinished building is a metaphor for why I left home. There was no hope, no industry, no viable opportunity that would sustain my future. Even though I know how much I love where I'm from, I could not live only there to lead a fulfilling life. Okay, the next section of the dream is me waking up in my car. So, two elements I kind of picked up here were napping and then oversleeping. So, napping, um, to dream of taking a nap is a sign of emotional well-being and financial security. To dream that you're taking a nap suggests that you need to take a little time off to relax and take it easy. Give yourself a break. And then we've also got oversleeping. So I kind of wake up and try to rush in because I'm a little bit late. Uh, to dream that you are upset because you've overslept and missed something important suggests that you'll have more than enough time for business and pleasure. So I guess it's kind of a good thing to have overslept and also feel upset that you've missed something, uh, which I do feel like, you know, is true of what I was experiencing in my dream. Uh I will just say that, you know, this really reminded me of a book that I read recently, and I wanted to share it with you. So I'm just going to recommend uh a reading to you. Uh try out Time Smart, How to Reclaim Your Time and Live a Happier Life by Ashley Willens. Um, I found it on Audible. It's a really short listen, and they do a really good job of the voiceover. Um, but it articulates well the importance of knowing the value of your time. I didn't realize how time-starved I have become before reading this book, um, but her book helped me to think very differently about success. And I don't feel so selfish or or badly about trying to get my time back. Um, I just have to be aware that that is what I need. Um, to be time-starved is worse than being poor. Uh, you know, a rich man has no time, the poor man has plenty of time, but no food. So it kind of goes into relating those things in a way for you to think about leading a happier, more fulfilling life and as it relates to balancing out time and money. But yeah, so that's why I kind of think napping and over sleeping um mean in this dream. The next section uh I kind of pick up on is the interaction in the beginning of coming back into the office and running into my boss. So, what I found was that to see your boss in your dream represents the bossy or authoritative side of your own personality. Your boss may reveal self-confidence and the assertive aspects of yourself. It is telling of your issues of control and authority. Alternatively, to see your boss in your dream may indicate your overinvolvement or obsession with your work. Negatively, the boss in your dream may symbolize your limitations and lack of freedom, originality. Consider also the relationship you have with your boss. This may provide clues to work-related stress or issues that need to be resolved. The next element I picked up on was the CEO. If you dream of another person as a CEO, you will be recognized through your hard work. Which that would be great, wouldn't it, guys? Um, yeah, and the other element was just the office itself. So to dream of your work office indicates that you cannot seem to leave your work at the office. You're overworked or have too much on your mind. Alternatively, an office symbolizes practicality, status, accomplishments, and your place in the world. If the office in your dream is unfamiliar or strange, then it suggests that you're comparing yourself to someone else and you're measuring yourself against another's standards. So, what I kind of deduced from relating all of these different elements to each other and the narrative I wrote is kind of this. Seeing my boss in my dream, I think means more to me based off of the relationship I have with her. I'm working really hard and trying to compete at a level that's just not possible right now due to my current life situation. I really look up to her, but her lack of expression, I think, has to do with my feelings of insecurity over my present performance. Seeing the CEO probably denotes my desire for recognition, but due to the present situation, lacking the performance to deserve it. Looking at the other women's offices makes me feel like I don't measure up to the standards of my peers. My boss's lack of reaction, though, I feel is a sign of strength and stability to me, and it's a healthy sign that she knows I need to put more space between myself and expectations at work. Okay, and the next section I picked up on two more elements. They are gender and jealousy. To dream about your gender indicates that you are evaluating your role and how you're perceived by society. Perhaps you're feeling self-conscious about specific gender roles. If you dream of the opposite gender than your own, then it means you need to incorporate aspects of the opposite sex into your own character. Jealousy. To dream that you're jealous indicates that you may be harboring those same feelings in your waking life. You may also need to look more closely at your self-esteem and see where it's lacking. Alternatively, to dream of jealousy represents your vulnerability and your fear of intimacy. You need to work on self-love and on acknowledging your self-worth. Oh boy, yeah. So there's a lot of that going on in this. The feeling insecure, the feeling of inadequacies. Um, and then so kind of what I picked up on was you've got to really love a good stereotypical gender role swap, right? So in this dream, we've got the men that have um have each other, and they lack a concern um for their lower echelon positions in the organization. Typically, um, it's women who struggle to have higher positions. In this case, it's the men. Um, and then I I envied that they had each other and they weren't even sucked into the escort duty. You know, from their perspective, who needs flowers and well-designed office spaces? They're pretty happy. So uh to kind of like segue another thing into this, um, you should really try to check out another podcast called How to Build a Happy Life by Harvard Professor Arthur C. Brooks. Um, he has an episode that came out a few months ago called How to Identify What You Enjoy, where he and psychoanalyst Lori Gutliebe uh break out the three different elements to live a happy life. The first element is enjoyment. And they talk about how many folks have forgotten or haven't invested enough time in learning what brings them enjoyment, and they just kind of bring it to the forefront that, like, one way to identify um what you those things are that bring you a lot of enjoyment are by taking note of the things that you become jealous of. Jealousy is like a great indicator of things that could bring you enjoyment. So don't run away from that feeling because it can have its usefulness for you. Don't run away from it and don't deny it. That that emotion itself has its value. Okay, so the almost last section here. I've got a few different ones. So this is where I kind of fall asleep again and I have a dream within the dream. To dream that you're dreaming or daydreaming signifies your emotional state. You're excessively worried and fearful about a situation or circumstance that you're going through. Dreaming that you are dreaming also serves as a layer of protection from what you're feeling. The dream within a dream allows you to experience certain difficult feelings that may otherwise be too painful to confront if you were directly dreaming the scenario. Oh boy, yeah, that's definitely true for this particular dream within a dream. Uh, the next element I picked up on here was hometown. To dream of your hometown indicates that you may be experiencing some unexpressed feelings. You may feel that you're not able to fully express your emotions. This could be triggered by some unfinished feeling in your waking life. The dream could also reflect aspects of yourself that were prominent or developed when you were living in your hometown. Did you abandon certain values or ideals when you moved to the big city? Did you forget some aspect of yourself? Who you really are? The next one I picked up on was carnival. To dream that you're at a carnival represents falsehoods and deception. If you observe freakish sights, then it denotes a lack of harmony in your domestic life. Much sorrow will arise in what were thought to be pleasant times. And then the last element that I picked up on in this dream within a dream was abandonment. The fear of abandonment may manifest itself into your dream as part of the healing process in dealing with losing a loved one. It may also stem from unresolved feelings or problems from childhood. Alternatively, the dream indicates that you're feeling neglected or that your feelings are being overlooked. Perhaps the dream is a metaphor that you need to approach life with reckless abandon and live more freely. Okay, so putting all of these elements together and kind of emphasizing different things, like the carnival one didn't fit exactly, but that's because I wasn't a part of the carnival. I was like exterior from it. So I like removed myself from it. But in doing so, I kind of missed out. So it's important to note that this is a dream within a dream, which basically means that we need to hyper-emphasize the importance of this embedded dream, the importance of this embedded dream. Um so returning to my hometown as an adult, but having missed the carnival suggests that I feel like I missed out on both the good and the bad of my childhood. The toys and the games left out suggest others in my community felt like everyone was equally afforded a happy childhood. However, I feel like I was robbed a lot of a lot of mine. I feel like those abandoned toys and tents represent how I feel about my childhood cut short. Okay, and the last section that I had was really just one element, which was the earthquake. To dream of an earthquake suggests that you're experiencing a major shakeup that is threatening your stability and foundation. The dream highlights your insecurity, fears, and sense of helplessness. Is there something in your life that you feel at fault for? Oh my gosh. Well, my lack of living a fully lived childhood kind of makes me feel like I could be robbed of living that fulfilling adulthood that I so desperately craved from the beginning of my dream. My therapist would say that it's up to me whether I live a fulfilling adulthood. I'm in control of what I choose to take responsibility for and my life. Sometimes I need to meditate to determine the difference between what I choose or have chosen for myself and when those choices are out of my control. I cannot change my childhood, but I can have positive impacts on my present life now, and I define myself each day, choice by choice. I know this particular podcast was a little bit shorter this time around. I tried to do the analysis a little bit different by having different sections, and I really hope that you enjoyed it. I hope that whatever you brought today to have a drink of and listen to the podcast brought you much joy. And as always, may your kappa overflow.

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Sheree

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