Everyone, regardless of who they are, where they live, and what they do with their lives, does five things every day. Five things that happen every day, regardless of whether we want or need them to happen, of whether we even know they’re happening.

One of those things is waking up. Waking up is a terribly traumatic thing to experience and yet we do it on at least a daily basis.

When we sleep, we dream. Our minds create a little world, populating it with all manner of people. We interact with these people. In some cases they’re people we know, be they representations of friends or family, or just people the brain has decided to throw at you that you just know because, well, you do. This world marches onward. Events unfold around you.

And then you wake up, and that world is gone. The people no longer exist. The places can no longer be visited. An entire world destroyed by an alarm clock, or a ringing phone, or from just being in bed for too long.

It’s quite extraordinary.