Recurring Dreams

auroranflash

This is not so much meant to be a "what do they mean?!" speculative adventure (although it can be...), but moreso just strange situations or themes that keep popping up from time to time.

- When I was a young adult, and even still sometimes, I will have dreams that dinosaurs are on the loose and trying to eat everyone. They say you don't die in dreams, but that's not true. A group, including me, was literally eaten while hiding in a playground slide by a T-rex one time. Then the dream abruptly ended. :laugh: I blame Jurassic Park, honestly....

- My first dog, Misty, who had to be put down when I was about 13, occasionally pops up in my dreams. I will see her, realize she is indeed dead and has been for years, and she should not be there (that 'something is amiss' feeling), and yet no one around me will make the same realization. It's normal that she's there and she's just happy to see everyone.

- I keep having dreams that I am back working at Subway (where I worked for 7 years, give or take, as a manager). I'm usually there at some odd hour or under strange circumstances, but I'm always rushing around to do a ton of things with little time or being short-staffed.

- Hasn't happened lately (unfortunately, since I always enjoy them) but I will sometimes dream that I am able to fly. It's as simple as concentrating on it and letting your feet leave the ground.

I'm sure there are more I'm not thinking of right now, but I'd like to hear yours. :drinker:

taylor5877

I once dreamed that Freddy Kruger was trying to kill me.

Just when he was to make the fatal blow, I stopped mid dream, laughed at him, and said "This is my dream beotch".

I then proceeded to beat the **** out of him for the rest of the dream.

auroranflash

I once dreamed that Freddy Kruger was trying to kill me.

Just when he was to make the fatal blow, I stopped mid dream, laughed at him, and said "This is my dream beotch".

I then proceeded to beat the **** out of him for the rest of the dream.

That is fabulous. Maybe that should have been my thread... "Have you ever had a lucid dream - where you realized you were dreaming and then started to manipulate the circumstances?" I've had a few. Mostly I would realize I was dreaming, choose to stay asleep, and loop the dream over again to do something differently.

TeachTheGirl

I love the ones where you're able to fly. I once had a dream where I was walking down countless flights of stairs. I eventually said 'F this' and floated elegantly down the remaining stairs. My dream didn't like this change in course, and therefore I woke up. :<

I used to dream about my old workplace a lot, but I think it's because I spent a large portion of my life there. I only dream about it sometimes now, like clocking in to 'help out' even though I don't work there anymore.

Because I'm awesome like that.

I also had really bad dreams for about the past 2-3 years involving my husband being a jerk and leaving me for someone else, etc. I initially would react in those dreams by begging him to stay or crying or running after him. That changed this year where dream-me would tell him to hit the road. I haven't been having those nightmares recently. \o/

Vnm77

Yeah....I dream about work ALOT...I guess that means I need a vacation!!!

dtreg35

I once dreamed that Freddy Kruger was trying to kill me.

Just when he was to make the fatal blow, I stopped mid dream, laughed at him, and said "This is my dream beotch".

I then proceeded to beat the **** out of him for the rest of the dream.

That is fabulous. Maybe that should have been my thread... "Have you ever had a lucid dream - where you realized you were dreaming and then started to manipulate the circumstances?" I've had a few. Mostly I would realize I was dreaming, choose to stay asleep, and loop the dream over again to do something differently.

ok.....how in the hell do you do that??? is this the matrix?

UsedToBeHusky

Throughout my entire life, I have had a recurring theme where the setting is always in Egypt. I might be a different character in the dream each time, but it is always in Egypt.

Also, my father passed away when I was 3. Every once in awhile, I will dream that he is still alive out there somewhere and that I just run into him in a public place. I blame my avid soap opera watching on that one.

yo_andi

I have a terrifying one from growing up in South Africa where my entire family is slowly murdered by home invaders in front of me, and for whatever reason I get stabbed last. I can feel being stabbed, and then I slowly start drifting off and I have to wake myself because I know I'm dying in the dream and it's awful. It had it the first time after a brutal home invasion on our neighboring farm in 1995, and then flared up again after my uncle was shot in killed in a carjacking. I haven't had it much since I moved to the US at age 14, but had it again earlier this year after my cousin's fiance was shot and killed in a home invasion in SA as well. I think those kinds of events trigger it.

Then I have a really happy one where my favorite ex and I go to Coney Island and ride all the rides for hours. I love those because he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan in 2010 and I miss him, but I always feel like he was just in the room after I wake up from that one.

(I swear I don't only dream about death and people who died hahahahahahahaha)

lalalalyndsey

I used to have a really strange and kinda creepy dream when I was younger. I would be at my elementary school and there was this upper playground (for the bigger kids) and I used to run up there when no one was there and there would be this little girl, with an obvious mental disability swinging on the swing. I would go over there and she would just be swinging, laughing and staring at me. Also, it would smell like snails (maybe not snails, but there used to be this plant at my school that always had a bunch of snails on it and it would smell really odd, kinda earthy - so I've always associated this smell with snails). It was really random and I've always wondered why the heck I had it all the time. Hm.

Also, very horrible, but I used to dream that I was going to meet my biological dad (he passed away when I was really young) and on the way to see him, there would always be some sort of reason why I wasn't able to - sometimes it would be that I was too late, or that I had to do something else, or that he didn't want to see me (that one was always the worst). I would cry in my dream and sometimes wake up with tears on my face This dream I completely understand, as I've always had that yearning to see/meet/know him.

Anywho, those are my recurring dreams! Oh and I've died in a dream before too and NO ONE believes me!! hahah

lachesissss

I dream about leading resistance movements in grocery stores against aliens. There are like four recurring grocery stores. I also dream a lot about getting across decrepit roller coastery bridges and surviving plane crashes.

cmriverside

~ I have one where the back door doesn't lock. It's at the house where I grew up.

~ The flying one is pretty common, I think.

~ Sometimes I have dreams about being in water and being in some kind of trouble, if things aren't going too well in my real life.

~ Being at an old job and feeling overwhelmed is another recurring one for me.

...hmmm.....Suddenly I need therapy

auroranflash

Throughout my entire life, I have had a recurring theme where the setting is always in Egypt. I might be a different character in the dream each time, but it is always in Egypt.

Also, my father passed away when I was 3. Every once in awhile, I will dream that he is still alive out there somewhere and that I just run into him in a public place. I blame my avid soap opera watching on that one.

Aw. *hugs for missing your dad* ... Maybe you're an ancient Egyptian goddess reincarnated?

UsedToBeHusky

Throughout my entire life, I have had a recurring theme where the setting is always in Egypt. I might be a different character in the dream each time, but it is always in Egypt.

Also, my father passed away when I was 3. Every once in awhile, I will dream that he is still alive out there somewhere and that I just run into him in a public place. I blame my avid soap opera watching on that one.

Aw. *hugs for missing your dad* ... Maybe you're an ancient Egyptian goddess reincarnated?

Aw... that's sweet. I don't believe in reincarnation though. :happy:

yo_andi

I once dreamed that Freddy Kruger was trying to kill me.

Just when he was to make the fatal blow, I stopped mid dream, laughed at him, and said "This is my dream beotch".

I then proceeded to beat the **** out of him for the rest of the dream.

You win the dream fight sequence of the day award, sir.

ndfaninaz

I often have dreams that I'm in a public place, and I have to pee. I'm frantically looking around for a bathroom, and when I find one, every stall is filthy!

Eventually I wake up and have to go to the bathroom.

NiSan12

A while back one of my most favorite celebrities died from sickness and I was really sad about it. Several days after his death I had a dream that he came and gave me a goodbye kiss and it felt so real. Love that one!

auroranflash

Some really interesting stuff here, guys! Thanks for contributing.

This has reminded me of another recurring dream I have.

Reality: about three years ago, I went to visit my best friend in New York. She's been my friend on the internet for about 13 years, and we finally got to meet up. I stayed there for a week with her on Staten Island and we had all sorts of fun and adventures and traipsed about the city. It was great. It also allowed me to take a week off from my crazy home life which involved my severely alcoholic boyfriend who was very emotionally/verbally abusive and manipulative, and our two crazy toxic roommates, so I viewed the trip as a therapeutic escape.

Dream: I have tickets to fly back to NYC, but for some reason I am running extremely late. I am in a mad rush to get on the plane. I never actually make it on the plane, but I don't necessarily miss my flight either - I have minutes to get there, most times. Sometimes I am in the terminal, rushing around, trying to find the right flight, and sometimes I am at home, knowing I should have been there already and panicking because I know I don't have enough time to get there, but still desperately trying to find a way to get on that plane and go back to New York.

Another similar, recurring dream is - it's Halloween night, already about 9pm, and I'm still trying to put together my costume so I can participate and go to a party/have fun with the rest, but time is ticking away and it keeps getting later and later, and I'm growing more upset...

:indifferent:

I wonder what all the "running out of time" panic is about...

yo_andi

I once dreamed that Freddy Kruger was trying to kill me.

Just when he was to make the fatal blow, I stopped mid dream, laughed at him, and said "This is my dream beotch".

I then proceeded to beat the **** out of him for the rest of the dream.

That is fabulous. Maybe that should have been my thread... "Have you ever had a lucid dream - where you realized you were dreaming and then started to manipulate the circumstances?" I've had a few. Mostly I would realize I was dreaming, choose to stay asleep, and loop the dream over again to do something differently.

ok.....how in the hell do you do that??? is this the matrix?

I have those often. I used to get bad nightmares when I was younger so I played some Jedi mind tricks on my dream life and now I'm usually able to realize that I'm dreaming and "fix things" in my dream so it won't be so scary.

mdcjmom

My biggest one is the staircase from labrynith. Anytime I am stressed about something I dream about the staircase. Say I am stressed abiut the kids their will be babies crying and I am running up and down these crazy stairs trying to get them. If it is money issues then I am running around the stairs trying to find money. IF its my mom she is calling my name and I am trying to find her. but its always the staircase and I always wake up sore just like I have been running flights of stairs all night long.

kaajay

My dreams that recurs:

- A red Godzilla-like dinosaur walking through my hometown and taking the roof off over my head in my childhood bedroom.

- Dangerous Whale Shark-sized creatures filled olympic sized pools. I kept getting pushed into the pool. (I'm a swimmer)

-Short green alien with giant eyes chasing me around our family's old cabin in Big Bear with a giant needle. (I hated going to Big Bear because of that nightmare)

-A beautiful lion jumping through my bedroom window.

I blame my having watched so many movies (MGM Grand), and seeing "breaking news" on UFO/Alien Sightings, and fear of sharks.

vinsonh42

I have been having super weird dreams lately and almost every night. I typically do no remember dreaming.... Every know and then I have this dream where I am trying to run away from something but no matter how hard I push off I am moving so slow like gravity has increased or my feet are really heavy. Idk its weird.

carrieo888

Here's a quick guide to dream interpretation (caveat: there are no hard and fast rules to this, "symbols" can mean different things to different people)

1) In general, people in your dreams represent something about yourself.
2) By stripping a dream down to the Action and the Emotion, you can get a clue as to what your subconscious mind is trying to tell you.
3) Recurring dreams usually indicate that you haven't resolved the problem yet. Figure out the message, and then you can solve the problem.

It is a really fun exercise to take control of your dreams to help solve a problem within the dream. Once you start recognizing that you are dreaming, you can manipulate the actions. So, for example, if in your dream you are being chased by a serial killer and you recognize that you are dreaming, stop, turn around and face the "problem." I've done this and either hugged the killer or beat the snot out of the killer (depending on what seemed necessary), and woke up feeling empowered. In this example, you are learning to take on any problem head on, no matter how terrified you are.

Enjoy!

auroranflash

I have been having super weird dreams lately and almost every night. I typically do no remember dreaming.... Every know and then I have this dream where I am trying to run away from something but no matter how hard I push off I am moving so slow like gravity has increased or my feet are really heavy. Idk its weird.

That reminds me of another one... Where something terrible is happening (someone is trying to kill me, or a ghost is coming after me, or something crazy), I try to scream, but for the life of me, nothing comes out. :indifferent:

I also have dreams about water with scary marine life in it and always have...

nerdyandilikeit

I have deja-vu dreams. I guess technically they're recurring, but it's a tiny bit different to me. I'll be in a place that I've been to before in a dream (which is usually a hybrid of places I've been or seen), but in the dream I'll be like "Ok, I've been here before. I remember what I did the last time I dreamed this place, let's get started." A lot of those kinds of dreams involve me running or hiding from something, but in a videogame-esque, get to the end of the level, avoid the enemies way. I'm not alarmed to be running in those, I just know I have to do it. And it's Voldemort I'm escaping from, lately, but he's like a total joke. I'm not worried at all about beating the 'level.' These dreams are always disjointed and illogical, but most times hilarious to retell. People I know are sometimes in them and do crazy stuff, or people from shows or books or movies I've seen will be there (other than Voldemort, I mean).

I had one fairly lucid dream a few months ago that really stuck with me. I was in a generic escape the zombies kind of scenario, but in the dream it felt super realistic. I was running from some zombies in a building and following some other people up these steps. They lead to a balcony with no where else to go and I looked over the edge to see people who had jumped to their deaths to avoid the zombies doing it for them. In the dream I felt so hopeless and scared of having to face the zombies, so I jumped too. I was very alert the whole way down, but I woke up just as I was hitting the ground. The hopelessness is what felt so jarring to me. It was recently after my dad died and most of my dreams were negative in some way.

Speaking of, for the first 6 months at least after my dad died last November, I was having dreams almost every night recreating (but in the weird dream way things happen for me) the last two days in the hospital watching my dad die from lung cancer. Those dreams were just weird versions of my step mom being horrible, but my dad was also usually very coherent. Coherent, but he knew he was going to die anyways. I couldn't stop it and as much as I tried to help him be comfortable or spend time with him, he would push me to go out and do whatever I would've been doing if he was healthy. Like even in my dreams I couldn't make up for what I didn't get to do before he died.

*When I'm restless or particularly stressed I'll have the slow motion kind of dreams, too. Where I want to move or run and I feel like I'm in quicksand.

nerdyandilikeit

Some really interesting stuff here, guys! Thanks for contributing.

This has reminded me of another recurring dream I have.

Reality: about three years ago, I went to visit my best friend in New York. She's been my friend on the internet for about 13 years, and we finally got to meet up. I stayed there for a week with her on Staten Island and we had all sorts of fun and adventures and traipsed about the city. It was great. It also allowed me to take a week off from my crazy home life which involved my severely alcoholic boyfriend who was very emotionally/verbally abusive and manipulative, and our two crazy toxic roommates, so I viewed the trip as a therapeutic escape.

Dream: I have tickets to fly back to NYC, but for some reason I am running extremely late. I am in a mad rush to get on the plane. I never actually make it on the plane, but I don't necessarily miss my flight either - I have minutes to get there, most times. Sometimes I am in the terminal, rushing around, trying to find the right flight, and sometimes I am at home, knowing I should have been there already and panicking because I know I don't have enough time to get there, but still desperately trying to find a way to get on that plane and go back to New York.

Another similar, recurring dream is - it's Halloween night, already about 9pm, and I'm still trying to put together my costume so I can participate and go to a party/have fun with the rest, but time is ticking away and it keeps getting later and later, and I'm growing more upset...

:indifferent:

I wonder what all the "running out of time" panic is about...

I have those kinds of dreams too! Or that I'm just lost somewhere and keep going in circles. I wake up so frustrated after those! I also have dreams where my best friend is a giant *kitten* to me (which never happens, ever), or that my mom is taking my brother's side and not listening to what I'm saying (which happened all the time, lol!).

auroranflash

Speaking of, for the first 6 months at least after my dad died last November, I was having dreams almost every night recreating (but in the weird dream way things happen for me) the last two days in the hospital watching my dad die from lung cancer. Those dreams were just weird versions of my step mom being horrible, but my dad was also usually very coherent. Coherent, but he knew he was going to die anyways. I couldn't stop it and as much as I tried to help him be comfortable or spend time with him, he would push me to go out and do whatever I would've been doing if he was healthy. Like even in my dreams I couldn't make up for what I didn't get to do before he died.

*When I'm restless or particularly stressed I'll have the slow motion kind of dreams, too. Where I want to move or run and I feel like I'm in quicksand.

So sorry for your loss. Maybe somehow the dream worked out like that because he (or some part of you) was trying to get you to push past the hurt and continue to live your life. :flowerforyou:

nerdyandilikeit

Speaking of, for the first 6 months at least after my dad died last November, I was having dreams almost every night recreating (but in the weird dream way things happen for me) the last two days in the hospital watching my dad die from lung cancer. Those dreams were just weird versions of my step mom being horrible, but my dad was also usually very coherent. Coherent, but he knew he was going to die anyways. I couldn't stop it and as much as I tried to help him be comfortable or spend time with him, he would push me to go out and do whatever I would've been doing if he was healthy. Like even in my dreams I couldn't make up for what I didn't get to do before he died.

*When I'm restless or particularly stressed I'll have the slow motion kind of dreams, too. Where I want to move or run and I feel like I'm in quicksand.

So sorry for your loss. Maybe somehow the dream worked out like that because he (or some part of you) was trying to get you to push past the hurt and continue to live your life. :flowerforyou:

People have suggested this to me, and I think it's probably true. It's taking a long time to really put it into practice though

SuffolkSally

I have lots of lucid dreams - which is great when they're interesting, you can sort of slightly wake up, and go back into the dream, altering its course. A lot of those are far out - I'm not usually myself in these dreams, so it's a bit like reading a novel.

I have a lot of recurring ones; mostly these are about feeling lost or an outsider in a place which I have never visited. Brisbane, now, I've never even been to Australia but it has a complete landscape, architecture, shops, set of people there; I'm always stuck without an onward flight ticket, and everyone's horrible to me. Sorry, real Brisbane, you have never done me any harm; and the only person I know there is a friend's rather lovely mother!

My deceased brother sometimes turns up in a dream about something else (like a group of friends planning a holiday or something of that sort) he never interacts with the others and whatever the situation is he and I are able to communicate but we both know that he is dead, and joke about it - which is very much the kind of conversation we would have had if it were possible.

I dream in full sound, colour and sensation, and sometimes find it hard to shake them off.

opalescence

I have a terrifying one from growing up in South Africa where my entire family is slowly murdered by home invaders in front of me, and for whatever reason I get stabbed last. I can feel being stabbed, and then I slowly start drifting off and I have to wake myself because I know I'm dying in the dream and it's awful. It had it the first time after a brutal home invasion on our neighboring farm in 1995, and then flared up again after my uncle was shot in killed in a carjacking. I haven't had it much since I moved to the US at age 14, but had it again earlier this year after my cousin's fiance was shot and killed in a home invasion in SA as well. I think those kinds of events trigger it.

Then I have a really happy one where my favorite ex and I go to Coney Island and ride all the rides for hours. I love those because he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan in 2010 and I miss him, but I always feel like he was just in the room after I wake up from that one.

(I swear I don't only dream about death and people who died hahahahahahahaha)

^^ this gave me chills. not in a bad way but in a deja vu kinda way

opalescence

Its not recurring but its etched into my brain it was so specific.

Worf from Star Trek the next generation was in my kitchen and he just killed everyone in my house (obvioulsy a party was going on because there was so many people in the floor dead and not sure if I knew any of them or not) it was all in a weird shade of pale blue, the house was not my house but it was... I had never seen it before ever... I took of running and jumped in my moms car (a very old old old car that was 20ft long) and ended up stealing it and picked up some friends and we parked at an abandoned 18 wheeler cab and people were having sex on the exposed metal and asking us to join in.

I have bizarre dreams...

Dancerten

Speaking of, for the first 6 months at least after my dad died last November, I was having dreams almost every night recreating (but in the weird dream way things happen for me) the last two days in the hospital watching my dad die from lung cancer. Those dreams were just weird versions of my step mom being horrible, but my dad was also usually very coherent. Coherent, but he knew he was going to die anyways. I couldn't stop it and as much as I tried to help him be comfortable or spend time with him, he would push me to go out and do whatever I would've been doing if he was healthy. Like even in my dreams I couldn't make up for what I didn't get to do before he died.

When I had to put my horse down last year, the entire week before and for months after I would have horribly depressing dreams of either him dying or suffering from some horrible foot deformity/injury (I had to put him down because he had severe laminits - a debilitating hoof condition). I still have those dreams from time to time, and they are always disconcerting. I wish I could have one happy dream with him in it.