His dreams

He says, "He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy. He never dreamed about this boy."
I'm understanding it as he's trying to block out all things that may have once made him happy. He doesn't want them to hold him back. Also when he says, "he never dreamed about this boy," I think the boy is his current wife, and he doesn't want to dream about her because he wants to die.