this is a post i've been meaning to make for a while. it is about all the odd recurring dreams that i have, though this xkcd comic that was posted the other day makes me think, maybe they aren't so odd and it's what reminded me that i wanted to blog about this...
missing homework
this is basically what you see in the comic above. usually it involves me getting to the end of the semester and realizing there was a class project that i completely forgot about or realizing that i signed up for a class and had totally forgotten about it and not gone since the first week. in my version of the dream, it's usually one or the other though, not both. and i don't think i ever worry about not graduating because i usually wake up after the second panel.
what does it mean? hell, i don't know. college was traumatic? i'm a control freak? at any rate, i feel better knowing i'm not the only one who has this nightmare repeatedly, almost a decade after i graduated from college.
loose teeth
this one is not impressive, or even interesting really. i only note it because i've had it more than a few times, and that's what this post is about. sometimes i will dream that one of my teeth is loose and about to fall out. one of my grown-up teeth, not one of my baby teeth.
what does it mean? it is a well known fact that i hate the dentist and do not floss. perhaps this is a manifestation of the guilt they put me through everytime i go to the dentist. perhaps it is residual hate for my sadistic orthodontist from my teenage years.
worms
if there is one thing that creeps me out it's parasites. little bugs living inside you. nasty. this one is especially bothersome because it will occasionally manifest itself in real life, like in an episode of ER or survivorman, perhaps a friend coming back from a stint in the peace corp in africa, or perhaps a cute and cuddly cockerspaniel that i watched take a crap that procedeed to crawl away. my version of the dream usually involves me finding a little scab or bump or something on the bottom of my foot that i start picking at. eventually i will break through the skin and find something that i'll start pulling on. depending on how bad a nightmare it is, it turns out to be either a small worm or a very very long one. gross, i know.
what does it mean? i'm pretty sure it means parasites are freakin' nasty and i'm terrified of them and also i should never go to africa.
falling
i'm pretty this is my version of the falling dream, only when i have it, it's not free falling like out of an airplane or into a giant black hole in the ground. when i have it, it usually involves me being on a latter or up in a tower or on a scaffolding that starts to tip over and there's nothing i can do but hang on and go with it.
what does it mean? probably nothing. my theory on the falling dream is that it is related to the twitch just as you fall asleep and the state where your muscles become unresponsive, known as sleep atonia, which is presumably so that you don't hurt yourself (or your spouse) playing soccer or dreaming about your career in mixed martial arts while you are asleep.
running in water
i kinda suspect this one is relatively common also, but don't have any evidence to support it. basically, something is chasing me and i am trying to run away. either i can't run at all or it feels like i am trying to run in water and my best effort will only get me moving very slowly.
what does it mean? maybe that all my efforts are futile. or maybe that time is catching up to me and i can't get away. or maybe it's my fear of the inevitable. or maybe it's just more of the r.e.m. atonia (<- album name?) crap.
8 comments:
I think everyone has that first one. I've heard other people talk about the teeth falling out one, I think its common but I've never had it.
My childhood recurring one was always some demon or something that lived in the basement I would run to close the basement door and flip the little lock but it would fly up the stairs so fast it would always just beat me. The worst part was it would make this screaming noise while it was flying up the stairs which always woke me up.
are you sure it was *you* screaming phil?
im sure. I would describe my 'scream' as more of a battle cry striking fear into the hearts of my enemies
i've had the school dream a few times and it always freaks me out. same with the falling one. phil...your demon dream sound troubling.
i definitely have the teeth falling out one on the regular. it sort of makes sense for me though, i play hockey. this may come as a surprise, but i often have a dream where i'm late for something and everything i have to do to get ready for it takes me a really long time to get done. it's weird.
I have the school dream on a pretty regular basis... about high school.
@david that *is* weird. i can't imagine why you might have a dream about being late while everyone is waiting for you.
Back when I was a kid, I'd have this re-occurring dream about falling 'off' the side of the moon and then I would keep "falling" forever through space. I'm not really sure why I had a vague grasp of inertia, but no sense of 'gravity', 'escape velocity', or 'the vacuum of space.'
Now I usually have big wave anxiety dreams. I thought they were fairly common too, based on the overwhelming evidence that one of my friends has them too.
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