The Season of Becoming
Part 1- When Dreams Start Speaking
Lately my dreams have been speaking in symbols.
If you know me, you know I’ve shared before about the vivid dreams I have. But recently something different has been happening. The symbols have started overlapping, repeating in ways that make me pause and really pay attention. When that happens, it usually means there’s a deeper message trying to surface.
Bathrooms.
(Yes, bathrooms…and no, it doesn’t mean you’re about to pee yourself, even though people always joke about that lol.)
Water- docks, open bodies of water.
Trains- in stations, riding them, or waiting for them.
Cars- driving, passenger- both front and back seat passenger, going different directions.
If you know anything about dream symbolism, these images often represent release, emotions, transitions, and direction. And when they begin appearing repeatedly…it’s not random.
A private space for my longer reflections, thoughts, and behind-the-scenes thinking on leadership, community, spirituality, and becoming. This is where I write more freely, more honestly, and with more room to go deep.
It’s usually a sign that your mind is processing some kind of shift happening in your life.
And that’s exactly how life has been feeling for me lately.
Like I’m in the middle of a transition I can sense, even if I can’t fully see where it leads yet.
I’ve also been noticing how my inner life and my leadership journey seem to be intersecting in unexpected ways.
That’s the beauty of dreams. You get the opportunity to process things subconsciously before they fully unfold in your waking life. Sometimes it’s not that life will play out exactly how you dreamed it, although for me it oftentimes does, but it’s really the patterns and themes often pointing to something meaningful happening internally.
I’m currently part of a cohort for women in leadership called the Women’s Impact Alliance, and during one of our cohort lab sessions we explored the themes of vulnerability and courage.
We talked about how leadership often requires both: the courage to speak honestly and the vulnerability to show up even when we can’t control how others respond.
That conversation hit me like a ton of bricks.
Because that’s exactly the space I’m in right now. And somehow, my dreams seem to be processing all of it.
During the session we were asked to choose images that represented the season of life we are currently in.
The first set included images of a moon over the ocean and white and pink flowers.
Moon over the ocean
White and pink tulips
The second set included a yellow bird resting on a flower and trees stretching upward toward the sky.
Yellow bird perched
Initially, the instructions were to choose one image from each set.
But my mind didn’t stop at one. I’m someone who naturally operates in duality, so even though each set contained several images, I found myself focusing on two from each group. I couldn’t help it. I saw symbolism in both, and together they began telling a story.
The moon over the ocean spoke to me immediately.
The moon reflects light in darkness, and the ocean holds layers beneath the surface. It felt like a reminder that sometimes growth begins with quiet introspection and emotional processing.
As you move deeper into the ocean, the water becomes darker and the light fades. The only illumination comes from the surface- the reflection of the moon above.
Looking at that image, I realized something.
The night before, I had done a lot of emotional processing. I went to sleep and had an extremely vivid dream. Actually ones that continued each time I woke up. Like my subconscious was like oh so you thought we were done? Nope! Let’s continue this lol.
My dream spoke directly to the transitional space I’m currently in. Who I’m Becoming.
And not in a cliché kind of way.
In a way where I’m actually surprising myself.
But back to the photos because this is where it gets interesting. Next to the moon and ocean were the flowers- soft, blooming, delicate.
They felt like the natural continuation of that reflection.
Growth.
But growth that only happens after introspection.
The second set of images deepened the story even more.
The yellow bird perched on a flower symbolized joy, happiness, and flight. Yellow is often associated with happiness, and birds represent freedom and elevation. They soar higher and higher, singing as they go.
I remember looking at that image and thinking, That’s me.
“I’m like a bird.”
(I literally sang that song when I went skydiving for my birthday a few year ago.)
Then there were the trees stretching upward toward the sky.
That image reminded me of something equally important:
Growth requires roots.
Strength comes from standing tall while remaining grounded.
Looking at all of the images together, I realized they were describing the same journey from different angles.
Introspection.
Growth.
Rootedness.
Elevation.
A season of becoming.
Earlier in the session we also discussed a quote by the renowned Brené Brown:
"Vulnerability is not about winning. It’s not about losing. It’s having the courage to show up when you can’t control the outcome."
That quote stayed with me the rest of the day.
Because lately I’ve been realizing that vulnerability doesn’t always look the way we expect it to.
Sometimes vulnerability looks like crying or sharing our fears.
But sometimes vulnerability looks like:
Setting boundaries.
Saying what bothers you instead of carrying it quietly.
Standing firm in your truth even when you don’t know how the other person will respond.
Right now, I find myself somewhere in the middle of all of those things.
Vulnerability and courage aren’t opposites.
In many ways, they work together.
And as we were discussing these ideas in the leadership session, something clicked for me.
Because the symbolism in those images mirrored something that had happened earlier that same morning.
The dream. It felt vivid and layered with meaning. It carried the same themes of release, recognition, and becoming.
And when I connected that dream to what we discussed in the leadership session, the symbolism became way too impossible to ignore.
The Dream
In the dream, I was wearing a gown that made me look like Princess Tiana.
I was inside a building that looked like a school when suddenly I realized I urgently needed to use the restroom.
People around me questioned why I would need to go right after putting on such a beautiful dress.
But my response in the dream was simple:
“I can’t help it.”
When I finally found the bathroom, I experienced a huge release.
You know that feeling when you’ve been holding something in for so long that when it finally releases you let out a deep sigh— “Ahhh, finally.”
It was that kind of release.
Afterward, I walked through the building and made my way to a lost and found area.
Interestingly, the day before this dream I had actually gone to look for my own coat at a lost and found. And the same person whose coat I was searching for in the dream was the same person who helped me search for mine the day before.
And where did I find my coat the day before?
In the bathroom.
So here I was again in another dream- using the bathroom, releasing something, and then heading to a lost and found to retrieve a coat.
The coat I was looking for was a yellow and grey North Face jacket that belonged to someone close to me. Someone I’ve shared an intimate space with for some time.
At first the staff showed me the wrong jacket.
Immediately I knew it wasn’t the one.
Then I pointed to another group of jackets and told them it was there.
They pulled one out.
And it was exactly the one I had been looking for.
But when they lifted it, another jacket came with it.
The staff asked if the second one belonged to me.
I looked at it and recognized it instantly.
“That’s my son’s jacket,” I said.
“That’s Joshua’s.”
His jacket was black with red writing and symbols on it.
Neither of them were physically present in the dream.
Only their jackets appeared.
What It Meant to Me
The symbolism stayed with me the entire day.
A gown representing identity and visibility.
And not just any gown; but one resembling a princess. Princess Tiana represents hard work, determination, and believing that the power to succeed already lives within you. She had to overcome obstacles while learning to balance her dreams, her work, and love.
A bathroom representing release.
A lost and found representing things that may have been misplaced but not necessarily lost forever.
And jackets – protective layers – representing the emotional roles people hold in our lives.
What struck me the most was the moment when they showed me the wrong jacket first.
I didn’t hesitate to correct them. I knew immediately it wasn’t the right one.
And when the correct one appeared, I recognized it instantly. And my heart jumped because of who it belonged to. They hold a deep space within me.
The same thing happened with my son’s jacket.
No confusion. Just recognition.
It felt like a reminder that even when life becomes emotionally complex, discernment is still possible.
But guess what? That is only possible after release. If you’re holding things in fear of release you’re unable to discern. And that is what is needed for your growth. Growth requires release.
Sometimes it requires reflection.
And sometimes it requires recognizing what belongs where (and to whom) – and trusting your inner knowing when you do.
When I looked back at the images from the leadership session, I realized they were telling the same story.
The moon and the ocean remind us to reflect.
The flowers remind us that growth follows reflection.
The trees remind us to stay rooted.
And the bird reminds us that eventually, we rise.
Right now I feel like I’m standing somewhere in the middle of that journey.
Rooted.
Reflecting.
Growing.
Becoming.
And realizing that what seems lost can be found. Again. It requires releasing, reflecting, being willing to grow in order to become something better.
This season of my life feels less like arriving somewhere new and more like becoming someone deeper, stronger, and more grounded in who I already am.
And if my dreams are any indication, this season is only just beginning.
~Shanay N. Fulton
*Yellow bird Photo byMark Olsen on Unsplash
