I have never been the kind of person who dreams a lot. Even on the rare occasions when I do, I usually wake up struggling to make sense of what I saw. There have even been times when I completely forgot the dream the moment I opened my eyes, as if it had never happened.
But there was one particular dream I had when I was in secondary school that I will never forget. It was one of those dreams that didn't make any sense at first, but later, it felt as if my subconscious mind had been trying to warn me.
In the dream, my mum and I were traveling somewhere. I didn’t know exactly where we were going, but we were inside a car, moving along a road. Everything seemed fine until we were stopped on our way and we couldn't get to our destination on time. The details were actually blurry, but then I remember feeling a strong sense of fear and danger in the dream.
When I woke up, I was a little confused. The dream felt so real, but I quickly brushed it off. I told myself that it was just a dream—something random that my brain had put together while I was asleep. So I didn't even think about telling my mum because, at that time, I believed dreams were just illusions, things that had no real meaning.
But then a few days later, my mum was driving me back to school. The road was busy, as always, with different cars and motorcycles moving in different directions. I was at the back seat, looking at the people outside and lost in my own thoughts, when something unexpected happened. My mum accidentally drove into the wrong lane. It happened so fast that she didn't even realize it at first. Before she could correct herself, a Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) officer appeared out of nowhere and signaled for her to stop.
Then without saying much, he just entered into the car and told my mum to park properly at one side of the road. At that point, I already knew we were in trouble.
He told my mum that she had broken the road rules and would have to pay a heavy fine. My mum, knowing that it was an honest mistake, tried to explain to them. She apologized and even pleaded with them, telling them it was not intentional and that she was just in a hurry to take me to school. But the officer didn't want to listen.
In this moment, I was at the back seat, watching the whole thing unfold, regretting my decision not to tell my mum about the dream. Maybe if I had told her, she would have prayed about it, and we would have avoided this entire situation. I kept blaming myself, thinking about how things could have turned out differently if I had just paid attention to my dream.
After what felt like hours of back-and-forth discussion, they finally allowed us to go. My mum was relieved, but I could still see the worry on her face. She didn't have much on her at that period, so even if they had insisted on the fine, it would have been a big problem especially on a day when i will be going resuming for school and there would alot of things to cater for.
To be honest , that experience changed the way I see dreams. Before then, I always thought dreams were just random images that had no real significance. But after that day, I started believing that sometimes, dreams are warnings—signs that something might happen.
Since then, I have learned to take my dreams more seriously. Of course, not every dream means something, but when a dream feels different or leaves a strong impression on me, I no longer ignore it. I tend to pay close attention to the details to see if there's anything I can do to avoid whatever is coming.
Looking back, I still wonder what would have happened if I had taken my dream seriously that time. Would my mum have been more careful? Would we have taken a different route? I'll never know for sure, but one thing is certain—dreams are not always meaningless. Sometimes, they are warnings in disguise, and it's up to us to recognize them before they turn into reality.