I too occasionally have dreams where I realize that I am dreaming. This usually occurs when I’m having a dream that I’ve had before. I also have some pretty weird dreams that should be frightening, but usually my reaction during the dream is more fascination than fear.
But there is one thing that freaks me out pretty good. Sometimes I dream that I am waking up (or maybe I do start waking up, because this is usually around normal wake up time). So in my (semi?) dream state, I think I am awake, but I can’t move or open my eyes. That’s when I get all panicky and try to force myself awake. It’s quite a helpless feeling. I eventually do wakeup, all sweaty and with my heart pounding. It hasn’t happened much recently and I think that I’ve gotten better at forcing myself to wake up, but it’s about the worst kind of dream that I’ve had. Anybody else have this type of experience?
My eeriest nighttime experience was waking up in the middle of the night and thinking, “I wonder if I’ll remember this in the morning?”
I mean, obviously I did, but what if I hadn’t???
Oh, and ditto on the teeth-falling-out dreams. Is that a powerlessness metaphor? Or is it just childhood baby tooth loss trauma, coming back?
I’m always tired in my dreams. So, if a monster is chasing me, or I’m naked at school, or my teeth are falling out, all I want to do is lay down and take a nap. I think I’m really getting ripped off. I mean, dreaming is supposed to be a time when you can forget about the real world and do cool stuff, but I’m always tuckered out.
i’ll dream that my mom wakes me up for school, and so then i wake up for real and go to the bathroom, wash my face, etc and then go back in my room to get dressed and it’s like 2:00 in the morning.
great. so then three hours later when i really do get up, i’m all annoyed at the repetitiveness and the fact that my stupid dream morning routine cut into my sleep time.
Me, too, ferrisgirl. I had a high-school dream that Mom woke me up for school, fed me toast, I dressed, and rode the bus. Once there, someone handed me a grapefruit. “Take this.” I did. (I don’t like grapefruit very much.)
Suddenly, I awoke. Mom was singing, she fed me toast, I dressed, etc.
I got to school, and someone handed me a grapefruit.
Four repetitions.
When I finally did go to school, I knew it must have been a dream, but still worried all day that someone would hand me a doggoned grapefruit. Actually, I’m still a teensy-weensy bit worried. At 47.
-Another