OC What's your recurring nightmare? What do you think it means?

I'm an "unprepared for exam" kind of guy.

I've been out of school for a number of years, but I still have recurring nightmares about finals I didn't know were coming.

Never exactly the same (tonight was an exam on logical operators? which I know pretty well out here in the real world?) but some things are usually constant:

  • I always find out days before a final exam that I was enrolled in a class I needed to graduate, but never attended because I didn't know it was on my schedule
  • I'm always the only person who is unprepared, and the Professor is always cognizant of this fact
  • I always decide not to study in the buildup, and completely wing it (c'mon, dream me! Get it together!)
  • The exam is always "high stakes" -- meaning there will be very negative consequences if I don't pass.
  • The exam room always feels like it's oriented incorrectly -- this one is hard to explain, but do you ever walk into a room and everything is oriented right-to-left instead of left-to-right?
  • I always wake up right as time for the exam runs out, so I never find out the results

And for what it's worth -- I did very well in school. This never happened to me, so I don't know where this one comes from, save for general preparedness-anxiety.

Sometimes I wake up and read up on the topic ... for next time.

What about you, kbeans / Lemmings? What haunts your sleep?

iNeedScissors67,
iNeedScissors67 avatar

I'm running from the foot soldiers from Power Rangers and leaping from rooftop to rooftop. I never remember any of the details but I've been having that one for 30 years.

cornballdefense,

I have this dream where an emergency arises and I try to dial 911 on a phone with physical buttons, and the number 9 is just not there. And it's always like, right as whatever is chasing me closes in on me.

lixus98,
lixus98 avatar

I've dreamed multiple times about being back in highschool, being late for classes or not studying for exams. It's almost like it traumatized me lol

CascadingSymmetry,

This is a very very common dream. It is also very common to have it many decades after you've left school. Sorry mate.

Catarinalina,
Catarinalina avatar

For years I had recurring dreams where I was lost wandering an endlessly large building - usually office buildings with hundreds of hallways and stairwells that led to more endless hallways. Haven't had them as often the last few years but they always left me feeling down the next day.

dixius99,
dixius99 avatar

I have a very similar dream to yours, where I don't even realize I'm enrolled in a class until a week before it ends. The main difference for me is that it isn't an exam that I have to get through. Instead there's some kind of year-end assignment that is due, which requires me to know everything that has happened in class all year.

Another, scarier one that I have is going into the basement and once down there, the stairs to get back up are gone. So I'm panicking trying to find a way out (and sometimes chased by a monster).

Sabata11792,
Sabata11792 avatar

I also have high school dreams.
It's the first few days, and I'm trying to find my class, locker, or schedule. I can't find them and I know I can go to the office to get info, but I can't find that either. I seem to know where the cafeteria is and use it as a centeral location.

It's not scary, just stressful.

I also usually have the rocket boots from Ratchet and Clank to get through the halls fast. I don't know why that's a constant reoccurring item, but it is.

orbitt,

I have a giant shadow spider that descends from the ceiling onto my face all while I have the stuck in the mud feeling.

turn_to_follow,

I'd recommend watching Enemy.

orbitt,

Lol I legit don't know if I need more fuel in that fire, but I'll consider it

xylan,

Getting ready to do something exciting, but being held up by something trivial.

For example, I'm about to go on holiday, but I can't find my car keys. [Spoiler - I never find them and I wake up without having been on holiday ]

Devi,

Suddenly realising I'm naked. Like I'll be going about my day, everything is fine, then I'll look down and "Oh no, I forgot to get dressed!".

I've obviously never done this in real life.

cornballdefense,

obviously never done this in real life.>

*obviously never done this yet

Devi,

Oh jesus, thanks for that.

cornballdefense,

Just be very aware of unusual drafts!

Saturdaycat,
Saturdaycat avatar

I had a really weird one when I was a child. I would be chased in black abyss by a giant sword which would then drop on my chest. I would wake up feeling a stabbing pain in my chest and the coldness of the blade. Usually I would fall back asleep and have a similar running dream, this time falling off the abyss and waking up suddenly again.

andromedathecat,
andromedathecat avatar

My reoccurring nightmare is being surrounded by a swarm of bugs. It’s usually wasps, but it can be other stuff too. It always takes place in my childhood bedroom. I always clamp my hand over my mouth because I’m afraid if I scream they’ll fly in my mouth. But I always end up screaming and they fly in my mouth and I wake up.

I’m not sure it has a very deep meaning to be honest. When I was a kid part of my room was a finished attic that was connected to our real attic which apparently had a very bad wasp nest. Everyday during warm months I’d find one or two in my room and have to deal with them. Now that I don’t live in a place with bugs I don’t have this dream anymore.

Merlu,

Fighting with my relative with a visceral anger and a sentiment of guilt that follows me long after waking up.
Maybe a way for my social anxiety to catharize my fears.

novarime,

Teeth. Hasn't happened for a while but there was a time when they were always growing or falling out.

I hear it's pretty common.

Melancholia,
Melancholia avatar

I used to dream about my teeth falling out pretty often, and then those dreams stopped. I think its because as I've gotten older, the idea of losing my teeth doesn't freak me out anymore. My subconscious has removed that nightmare from the regular rotation since its no longer effective.

Flaky_Fish69,
Flaky_Fish69 avatar

All of my dreams are freaking random weirdness. if anybody wants to spend some time analyzing them, my most recent one, the most memorable thing was some weird russian dude trying to get me to try some disgusting looking frozen "Borscht-Chessie" pizza.

only thing I can thing of is I was reading something about the Ukraine war before bed... and had frozen grease on a shingle pizza for dinner. (that was pepperoni and I added some spicy pickled red onions to it.)

davetansley,
davetansley avatar

I'm nearly fifty, thirty years since I last did a school exam, and I still have recurring dreams about them. Weird, because I didn't have any stress or anxiety at the time... at least not conscious stress.

My dream takes the same basic form as yours. I am approaching a time when I know there should be an exam, but I haven't been to the class at all for the year. Mostly the dream consists of me hoping no-one will mention the exam and I can just kind of pass it by default. It makes no sense.

Other recurring dreams:

  • I stumble on a previously unknown room in my house
  • My Grandad, who has been dead over 20 years, is suddenly alive again. Everyone knows he should be dead, no-one really mentions why he's alive again, and there's a weird feeling that he's hanging around on borrowed time.
namesare4squares,
namesare4squares avatar

An extra room in the house? Sounds like a dream to me, haha. What kind of stuff do you find in those?

cries in nowhere to store things

davetansley,
davetansley avatar

I never actually go into the room, weirdly. The dream is more focused on the shock and confusion of finding a door I'd never noticed before.

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