I have very vivid dreams every night. A few times they have translated into gripping nightmares or deeply spiritual experiences. One night, I dreamed about my friend's ailing mother whom I had never met. The dream was so lucid that I woke up in the middle of the night to drop him an email, letting him know I was thinking about them. I found out the next morning his mom had passed away at the same time as my dream.
Before you think I am some kind of soothsayer, let me assure you that most of the time, my dreams follow the same pattern: psychosis. And poor Jamie gets to hear allllll about them them in the morning.
There was that captivating dream when I rode to a desert island in a shark's mouth. Or those many times I dreamed I was knocked up at BYU and was stressed because I could not get a date. Go figure.
But my most reoccurring dream is driving me nuts. I have had it in some version at least five times per week for the past few years: I am in my last semester of college with finals looming before me and I realize I have forgotten to go to class the entire semester.
Have you ever had a regular dream where you F-R-E-A-K O-U-T? That is me, running in circles, crazed that I will not graduate and trying to cram four months of work into a few days. Is it not enough that I live like this during the day but does it have to translate to nighttime, too?
It has been bugging me so much that I finally googled "dream interpretations" the other day. And do you know what I pieced together?
To dream that you forgot to attend a class you signed up for, indicates your anxieties and fear of failing. You may also be lacking self-confidence in your ability to handle new responsibilities or projects.
Gee. And I just thought it was a sign that maybe I should have gotten my Master's Degree after all. :-)
So, what are your interpretations, oh Dream Senseis? What are you dreamin' about and what do you think it means?
Editor's Note: Angie left me the following comment:
I used to have that exact same kind of dream! I had it for years -- high school, undergrad, masters -- seriously, years!
Then, one time I read in a magazine that the psychologist writing the article said that he always calls it "the overachievers dream." He said that the only people that have that kind of dream are the people that would never, ever let that happen in real life.
I will take her anal retentive overachiever interpretation over obsessive failure any day. :-)
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Could I be first?
I have very vivid dreams too. I also have that college dream where I forgot to go to class for the semester and freak out trying to figure out how to pass.
My other stress dream is that my teeth all fall out. It starts as one loose feeling tooth, and then suddenly they are all loose in my mouth and I'm spitting out a mouth-full of teeth. Blech.
Let's see, I also am known to dream when I'm pregnant that my hubby is cheating on me. Those make me wake up so grumpy and mad at the poor guy.
And then, there was that samuri dream I had the other day...
Oh yeah, and the dream where I'm totally smoking - like smoking a cigarette as fast and deeply as possible, which is strange for a good Mormon girl who has never even touched a cigarette... There is clearly something wrong with me
One of my least favorite dreams is one where I'm walking around, but the me in my dream can't keep my eyes open. People are talking to me, trying to tell me something... and my eyes flutter open and shut constantly. It's worse when I dream that I'm driving and can't keep my eyes open...
I have no idea what your dream means. Maybe you're supposed to go back to school and... um... teach a class on travel or... blogging or... stuff. Yeah.
I have a recurring dreams that suck for me.
I'm flying and can't maintain altitude and so I keep dropping into a dark, murky lake (And I am terrified of dark, murky water).
I used to have that exact same kind of dream! I had it for years -- high school, undergrad, masters -- seriously, years!
Then, one time I read in a magazine that the psychologist writing the article said that he always calls it "the overachivers dream." He said that the only people that have that kind of dream are the people that would never, ever let that happen in real life.
I felt a lot better after I read that!
I've had a terrible dream over several years, at least fifteen years, and I wake up in a cold sweat.
I'm breezing away at life and then I suddenly realize that Christmas is tomorrow and I haven't bought them anything. It sounds like small potatoes to lots of people, but it freaks me out to pieces!!!
I had a dream the other night that my little brother was nursing a baby- Huh? what? weird... I dream werid stuff all the time, I dreamt the other night that i finally said something to the one person I concider an enemy, it felt so good, then i woke up.
Oh, my gosh! I have recurring dreams about being late for school and being tested on college classes I have missed, too. I figured it was because I just had to stress about those things for years so, somehow they lingered in my subconscious...
I like the explanations you posted because I do always fear that I will fail....hmmmmmmm? verrrrrry interesting
Okay, I consider myself to be a rather insightful, creative person who knows herself well or is, at least, willing to get to the bottom of my heart - but after reading your blog and these comments, I am convinced that I don't know myself very well -
Because - I never remember my dreams. So what does that mean? I think the only ones that I ever remember are the ones where I am screaming lunatic mad at someone I'm really annoyed/mad with in real life. I think that, for me, it is my blessing from God that I have the dream and get it out of my system and then I don't have to repent about it....right?
I'm panicked now that I don't know my dreams. Number 4,786 of things I must worry about today.
I'm glad you found me, from where I don't know, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your blog!!!
Let's be friends!!!
I have that dream, too, but probably because I actually did skip class a lot in college and barely graduated.
I have two recurring dreams now. I have the old standby - going to class in high school and forgot to wear a shirt or bra. I am walking around topless. I mean seriously, how did I get out of the house like that? Did I not realize it at the first stoplight when the car next to me was either oggling, laughing or shielding thier passengers' eyes?
The second dream I have is getting lost on my college campus. It usually turns into some sort of weird cartoon like ultra urban Gotham City of a town where I have to jump from roof top to roof top. Odd because my campus was in a small town in Missouri in the middle of farm towns.
KEEP BELIEVING
I haven't had that EXACT dream, but something similar: it's the first day of the semester, and I cannot find my class. I run around all over the place, into every building asking for directions and begging for a map, but there's no one there to help me.
I have really weird dreams too. Often, whatever the last TV show I watched that evening will somehow be featured. Very often I find myself an FBI agent working with Don Epps from the show NUMB3RS. Those dreams are always fun. For months, hubby and I watched Friends reruns, and I often found myself one of the roommates, dating Joey, etc. lol!
Also have had various versions of that dream. Usually I'm on my way to high school/campus/etc. and realize I can't remember where to go/can't find a copy of my schedule/can't remember my locker combo/etc. which leads to me running around all over when I know I should be in class. AHHHHH! (I, as well, will take the overachiever interpretation any time!)
I have recurring dreams too.
When I'm stressed, I have dreams that my teeth are loose and then turn to rubble and I have to spit them out little by little. Gross.
I have the High School dream too that I forget my locker combo and I have finals and I have never been to the classes.
Another one I have is that I get called on another LDS mission and have to go again YEARS later. I've forgotten the language, I'm married and have children but they don't care...I must go again. I loved my mission, but I'm not sure about having to go again.
Another one I have is that my husband all of the sudden has another wife. I have to ride in the back seat of the car. I'm always mad at him in the morning when I have that dream. I shouldn't be because he didn't really do anything wrong, but I can't help but be a little ticked.
I think that's it. I just couldn't help but comment. I appreciate learning from you all that I'm not the only one who has these dreams. It makes me feel better knowing I'm not the ONLY crazy one. To quote a High School Musical song..."We're All In This Together".
I haven't had it in a while, but I often dream that I watch an airplane crash.
I have also had school dreams.
Please, tell me. Anything on the plane crash dream?
thanks for visiting my blog!
just last night i dreamed my 9 year old asked if he could buy a porno magazine at the supermarket. i was trying like crazy to come up with the right "love and logic" response, and all i could say was "sure son, but mom is going to cut out her own face and glue it on every one of the bodies first. then you can look at it."
interpret THAT one. or don't. i secretly want to be a porn star? i'm afraid of my child growing up? checkout line tabloids are as bad as porn mags?
I have three recurring dreams. The first one is where I fight with my mother and yell at her in my dream. Loudly. We don't have the best relationship, so that explains that one. Second, is like yours, not being able to find a class, not remembering a locker combination, not being ready for a test. HUGE anxiety. And the third, and most annoying, is me trying to get a particular boy (sometimes the Husband) to like me, and failing.
So this sums me up: I don't get along with my mother, I'm afraid of failing, and I don't think I'm good enough for men.
I hate dreams. I'm much happier awake.
Thanks for visiting my blog! My picture was taken at the top of Mount Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It's a beautuful place! Mostly I dream about nonsense but ocassionally I have those very real vivid dreams that one can never forget.
I have lots of vivid dreams and a few reoccuring ones:
Version 1.) Flying-Peter Pan style...I have had those since I was a kid.
2.) My house has been hijacked by terrorists (and their are "passangers" and family members in the house)
3.) Teeth falling out. This one freeks me out so much, I looked up the interpretation and it is supposed to mean that you are worried that you are going to get caught in a lie. I also have dreams that my pets teeth fall out (I'm not sure if that is neglect haunting me or if I'm worried that they are lying to me!)
Most of the time I dream about someone that I haven't chatted or heard from in awhile...that's usually my push to make sure I drop them an email or phone call.
No matter what situation I am in in life, I always seem to have one recurring dream ... that changes every few years. I can still remember the few that haunted me in college. One was very similar to yours, being registered in a class and not knowing it and then failing it. Oops.
Now I am just having crazy pregnancy dreams. Why do the hormones do this to us?!? We need to be storing up on our sleep now!
I don't dream. I think that means I have lost all ability to think. What, with 4 crazy boys, ...and tons of interrupted sleep, I am only DREAMING about dreaming. Good post.
I'm wondering if dreaming I can fly is somehow connected with needing to go on a diet? (to lighten the load on the wings or something?)
Well, that school dream is one of my recurring dreams, and I think both those interpretations apply to me! :S YIKES!! (I am definitely in trouble!)
Hey, thanks for stopping my blog and leaving me a comment. I really appreciate it!
Your blog is SA-WEET! Hope you won't mind my stopping by more often. :)
dude! I have this dream all the time too!!
>>I am in my last semester of college with finals looming before me and I realize I have forgotten to go to class the entire semester.<<
seriously! lol
I had another strange recurring dream as well, for years, but I recently figured that one out... it is long and complicated!
Yep, I've had that experience of knowing the final is eminent, but I haven't been to class in months; however, unlike my Canuck sister, my college transcript reflects that it was NOT a dream!
Last week I had a dream that I was being chased by a lobster. The same night I had a dream that I ate lobster and my lips became huge.
I have had a reoccurring dream where my husband is the polar opposite of himself. A mean guy, the personality of a guy I once dated.
I have very few dreams that I can remember....my most memorable ones are two nightmares I had many years ago, when I was about 7 or 8. They still freak me out.
I like Angie's doctor's interpretation of your dream. :)
Heidi
I must be your dream twin sister. That is MY panic dream, too! I realize at the end of the semester that "I had science? Really? Why haven't I been going?" Or I was TRYing to find that math class, but they keep changing it. Totally gets me freaked out every time.
I also dream elaborate dreams, and they seem so real, and then in the morning when I realize it's not real, sometimes I'm disappointed. Like the dream where Donny Osmond and I got to be really good friends and he invited me to sing with him at his next concert. I can't believe that's not true.
Or I'll be mad at my husband for the whole day for how he treated me in my dream.
What?
One of my favorite family moments was about a year ago when my very large family was sitting around and my brother and I started analyzing and interpreting everyone's recurring dreams. It was a blast (because I "won").
My recurring school dream is that I don't have my class schedule and I can't find which room I'm supposed to be in.
I LOVED this post...so funny! I always wake up after my dreams thinking they totally made sense until I try to say what happened out loud...then I just sound like a lunatic!
Amber,
I used to have that dream all of the time. I was told that it meant that I had left something unfinished. After I graduated from college I stopped having them.
OMG, I can so relate to the dream about your friends mother. When I was twelve I had a reoccuring dream that someone was getting runover by a transport truck. The dream stopped when my eight year old couzin was struck by a car. Dreams are freaky!
Most of the time I can't remember my dreams--but I do dream I'm out in public with nothing on but my undies?!? I wonder if that's a control freaks fear--not being in control???
I am so with you on having dreams of showing up to finals unprepared - fear of failure makes sense. Eeeek. Maybe now I'll dream about how I dream about how I am scared to fail. Yuck!!
Our church teaches classes on dream interpretations. I so believe they have meaning.
UGH! How the heck did you do it - you got me thinking about my dreams like ALL THE TIME!!! Here it is 6:51 in the morning on a Saturday and I'm awake thinking about the ice cream shop I just spent 7 hours working at with a young women in my ward who was pregnant???? It was disturbing because it was a girl you would never 'suspect'!
Explain that one??????????
AND I'M LACTOSE INTOLERANT!!!!!
I dream about my teeth falling out all the time. It's disturbing.
I have the same dream -- that I've forgotten to go to class all semester and there's like a week left and I'm going to the professor trying to figure out how to make up all the work. I'm freaking out that I let it happen, and depressed about screwing up so badly. Hmm... And it's always a class like calculus, not ever anything fun...
This pregnancy I've been having some weirdo dreams. But before, I would have a dream all the time that I was back in college- not worrying about classes, but how I was going to fit my 3 children into my studio apartment!
I'm a total perfectionist and I have that damn college dream all the time.
Hate.
Also, I have dreams about giving birth to kittesn a lot. What the hell does that mean?
I have reoccurring dreams of running...not away from anything and not in fear, just plain running...and loving it.
Somewhere, I read it means that I'm going to be rich one day. I don't see the connection, but...a girl can dream :)
Just passing through via Mommy's Martini. I saw "Canuck" and I had to check it out.
hi amber,
i can relate to what you say here.
i have a story for you. i had nightmare (freaky scary bad, death and r#pe) for most of my life since childhood and in adult hood the nightmares were happening almost every night. not peaceful sleep. three years ago, the nightmares eased up. ever since that week, i have had only maybe two nightmares (and i used to have these almost every night).
you know what happened that week three years ago amber?? can you guess?? the person who got my attention about joining the church walked into my life. i was knocked off my socks that week and i prayed a ton and pondered and decided to join the church. but also, that week, with that same person (my cousin), i felt comfortable enough with her to finally open up and tell a soul something that was bottled up inside me and i had never talked about to anyone. i told her about how i had been raped at age 18. i was 36 when i finally said one word about it.
since that week three years ago, i feel more peaceful, content, and GRATEFUL. that's why i have a GRATEFUL blog. i don't ever want to forget to be grateful for the blessings.
nightmares went away almost totally. what peace that has been.
see you soon.
happy Sabbath girl,
kathleen xo
I have this exact same dream too!!
i have crazy BAD dreams!
I have that school dream- about forgetting to attend school yada yada. So you're definitely not alone. And BTW, I've been done with grad school for about 2 years now. Still have the dream!
I also have the teeth falling out one, too. I hate that one!!
I don't have vivid wacky dreams (other than these) unless I am preggers... So I'm happy with that...
I need that dream interpreter you went to NOW! lol I have crazy dreams too and my poor hubster has to listen to all of them. One of my reoccuring dreams is that I'm falling or floating downward. I never actually hit the ground, but often see the ground below and know at some point i will hit it and can't prevent it.
i dream on a regular basis and some are pretty intense. i remember some, others i don't. the one recurring theme that i'd like to know the interpretation is that i'm topless. in the dreams, sometimes it doesn't matter but most of the time i know that i am and feel like it's inappropriate. maybe i'll go look that up :]
Oh my gosh, I was just telling someone about my recurring dream... and guess what? It's very similar to yours. The scenario changes from dream to dream, but the gist is always the same... I have a big exam/huge term paper due and I am totally unprepared and I am going to fail out of school. Whenever I wake up from these dreams I am so relieved that I've already graduated!!
Jane, Pinks & Blues
I have had that same dream many times -- but not as much lately! I always thought it meant I felt I was unprepared.
Another recurring dream I have is that I can't run or walk, but only crawl. I'm trying so hard, but I can't even stand up. I think it means I feel I can't do what I want to do and am being held back, or that things seem to take too long for me in life!
i don't dream AT ALL! unless i am pregnant and then i dream every once in a while, and when i do i am either being attacked or running from something or its a sex dream. bwwwahahahaha!!
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