Recurring Dreams (Dreams, Part 3)
Do you guys ever have those recurring dreams that aren’t quite good, aren’t quite nightmares? I seem to have a few dream scenarios that kick in whenever the waking situation calls for it. For instance, I know whenever I have “the shopping dream” that I’ve been frustrated and feel futile in my waking state.
The shopping dream goes something like this: I’m in some type of store and I’m looking for a few things, but as I’m walking around I can’t seem to remember what I needed. I look and look, but all I see is random stuff that doesn’t trigger any sort of recall. Sometimes this dream takes place in a mall, where I keep getting lost going from store to store and can’t remember what I’m looking for. Most of the time there’s the added frustration that the store/mall is closing soon, so I’m running around, frantic, looking for this elusive thing and not getting anywhere.
Another dream I have pretty often is the home-invasion dream. These are usually more tense than actually scary, and they’re probably tied to feelings of reduced physical security in my waking state. The home-invasion dreams ALWAYS take place in the house I grew up in in Arizona…sometimes there are other family members with me but mostly I’m in there alone. In some dreams I discover an intruder in the house and try to hide, and other times the intruder is trying to get in and I’m trying to either call the cops or round up any family members present and get out of the house. When I choose to hide, the dream ends. When I call someone, my fingers can’t dial the number or the phone doesn’t work. When I run, things are much more prolonged and involve me hiding in neighbors’ backyards or navigating the maze of streets on foot. I’m never chased very far but sometimes the neighbors get mad at me. Go figure…
Lastly, I have the late-for-school dream. I’m sure this is pretty common, and as I’m a time-oriented person who hates being late, I have a few variations of this one. In the school variation I always have trouble deciding what to wear, and I can never figure out what time it is or what class I’m supposed to go to or how I’m going to get there. The wedding variation of this dream involves me as either the bride or some member of the wedding party. As the bride, I’m running late because I’m trying to pack. As wedding party, I can’t locate my dress or get ready on time. There’s a very interesting marching band version of this dream that I have every so often. In the dream I’m always on the field getting ready to do a show and have absolutely no clue what to do. I don’t know what we’re playing and I don’t know any of the drill. What’s worse, my section is looking to me for leadership. I think this is probably in place of any type of “where are my clothes?” dreams. It’s all about being ill-prepared and overexposed.
P.S. I’m off to vote and get my free Starbucks–woohoo!
November 4th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I used to have two reoccurring dreams as a child.
Where I grew up, we had a gully that a creek ran through in part of our yard. I would often times go down there and play, or hike up it as far as I could. In my dreams, I would be down there, hiking up it, when all of a sudden things would start attacking me. I’d start to run as fast as I could. Then, somehow, I was at some water park, and would take a water slide that would help me escape back to my house.
In the second, I would dream that I was driving my mothers car. This was before I had ever driven of course, I was probably 10 at the time. Weirdly, I knew how to do everything, and drove perfectly. Looking back on it now, everything in my dream was exactly as it is driving in real life, and my moms car was a stick, and I remember in my dreams I would use the clutch. I don’t know that I even knew what a clutch was back then. Weird.
Anyhow, thanks for sharing. Hope you enjoyed hearing some of mine