# Share your stress dreams! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 18, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943 "2017-05-18T18:26:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/41 "2017-05-20T16:48:14Z")
I’ve had the teeth one, but not in a while. I have the following quite often: 1. I am walking somewhere, and suddenly my legs get weak and I end up crawling towards my destination. And it’s a struggle as my legs are useless and my arms are getting tired from pulling myself forward. 2. I’m on an elevator and it keeps going higher and higher. And I keep hitting buttons to go down, but it keeps bring me up higher. I get off the elevator and try a different one and the same thing happens. I keep going higher and higher until I reach the roof and get off. And it’s like I’m miles above the ground. And I can’t get back down. And I’m terrified because I’m so high up. 3. I’m on the ground and suddenly I’m tossed up in the air. I grab a tree branch to stop myself, but instead it propels me higher. I grab another tree branch to stop myself and again I’m thrown higher. And I keep getting thrown higher and higher, and then I wake up. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/42 "2017-05-20T17:32:22Z")
My stress dreams are always the delay type. There are three that I’ve had at least twice: –Trying to dial a phone, but keep getting the numbers wrong. This was more common back in the days of phone cards, where you had to dial a string of about 20 numbers. –Shopping in a store on a deadline, but keep going round and round without being able to find what I’m looking for. –Getting ready for work and trying on everything in my closet, without being able to decide on anything to wear. Come to think of it, that last one actually happens sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/43 "2017-05-20T17:46:21Z")
I’m surprised by the phone dialing one. I’ve had that dream on numerous occasions: I try dialing a number but can never, EVER get it right. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/44 "2017-05-20T18:29:08Z")
This one occurs frequently. In fact, I had it last night: A law firm I worked for nearly ten years ago still holds an office for me and still assigns me cases, even though I’m solo now. I show up at the firm and in my office are cases that have lain dormant for months and months. Partners and admins start showing up and yelling at me because I never show up to the firm, and I don’t turn in my hours. Sometimes I get fired, other times I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/45 "2017-05-20T19:24:29Z")
> [@SUZ\_MAC](#): > > I am absolutely flabbergasted by all of the dreams that we commonly share. I had no idea. I feel so … well, not so odd and confused by having these dreams. Thanks Dopers for chiming in. Had I never joined I would have continued thinking that I was losing it. Yes, the Dope has taught me that whatever weird quirk I think is just me, many others share it. It been very comforting. I had a new variation this morning. I’m in a baking competition working on a celebration cake of Grumpy Cat, ten minutes are called and suddenly I can’t find any of the equipment I need, and the cake has turned into an coffeemaker with icing on it. ---
**Author:** ![Periwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Periwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Periwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/46 "2017-05-21T00:17:17Z")
I haven’t had a school one in a long time, but have many work ones where I’m trying to figure out some problem and almost getting it but then I get confused and have to start over. The funniest work one was where I had forgotten that I was in charge of the company sheriff’s department (???) and there had been a murder, and I had forgotten to solve the murder. I don’t have kids but I had a few dreams where I realized that I had a baby but I had forgotten to take care of it. Once I was in a panic because I was in a bathtub and was afraid I had let the baby drown, I was frantically searching through the water. For a few years after my wedding, I had stress dreams related to that. I would realize that I had forgotten to order a cake or flowers and would be running through the grocery store trying to find something that would work. I also have a lot of dreams where someone is trying to get into the house and attack me, and I’m afraid. This is almost always my childhood home, not my current one. Once I had a knife and stabbed the attacker right through the heart, that was weird. I love the dream where you realize there’s a hidden floor or room that’s full of interesting things to explore. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/47 "2017-05-21T00:25:23Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I’m surprised by the phone dialing one. > > I’ve had that dream on numerous occasions: I try dialing a number but can never, EVER get it right. _sigh_ yet another one I’ve had a number of times. another one is driving around my (suburban) city and seeing most neighborhood blocks filled with half-burned-out houses like the bad areas of Detroit. I don’t have any “good” dreams anymore. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/48 "2017-05-21T01:41:02Z")
The worst one I’ve had are ones where my wife has left me (although they are usually set during the time we were dating, so she isn’t actually my wife yet in the dreams. It’s always comforting when I wake up from those dreams and she’s lying next to me. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/49 "2017-05-21T01:45:23Z")
I’ve never had the one about not being able to dial a number. The teeth falling out dream I consistently have every year or so. I’ve had the secret room in the house dream, as well as one where we’ve bought a new house that starts out smaller than the one we live in but keeps getting bigger and bigger (maybe that’s related to our kids getting older and closer to moving out?). ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2017, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/50 "2017-05-21T04:09:16Z")
I sometimes dream I’ve rented a garage in which to restore an antique automobile; I can never find that garage again. I sometimes dream I’m still working and have a problem to solve and I cannot locate the department having the problem. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/51 "2017-05-22T14:10:20Z")
I saw a blurb on the news about people that were stuck on a stopped roller coaster for hours and just the sight of it elicited a flash of the [del]anxiety [/del]terror I feel when I dream about being being stuck up high on a structure or holding onto a ledge, screaming my head off for help and feeling like I can’t hold on another second. I’m not in any way afraid of heights and I love roller coasters; obviously this is a dream about feeling trapped and begging for help. Funny enough, I haven’t had the teeth dream in years but that’s probably because I’m living with real life dental nightmares. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/52 "2017-05-22T14:13:19Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I sometimes dream I’ve rented a garage in which to restore an antique automobile; I can never find that garage again. > I sometimes dream I’m still working and have a problem to solve and I cannot locate the department having the problem. Similarly, I have dreams where I cannot remember where I parked my car. I wander for hours looking… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/53 "2017-05-22T17:09:22Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Similarly, I have dreams where I cannot remember where I parked my car. I wander for hours looking… I just had that one two nights ago! ---
**Author:** ![Nom\_de\_Plume](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85f322/32.png) [@Nom\_de\_Plume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nom_de_Plume)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/54 "2017-05-23T18:17:10Z")
I was a DJ for 20 years with American Forces Network. I haven’t done that job for 15 years or so, but my stress dream is still radio. The record’s running out, and I have nothing to put on. No records, no CDs, no carts. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/55 "2017-05-23T22:41:08Z")
> [@Nom\_de\_Plume](#): > > I was a DJ for 20 years with American Forces Network. I haven’t done that job for 15 years or so, but my stress dream is still radio. The record’s running out, and I have nothing to put on. No records, no CDs, no carts. Oh god, that one. In mine, the record library is totally inappropriate for the kind of show I’m supposed to be doing (i.e. ancient show tunes, inspirational speeches etc. instead of rock), or I have to do a newscast and there is nothing coming off the teletype but obscure features (like the trucking industry outlook for the lower Midwest) instead of headline stories and weather. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2017, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/56 "2017-05-24T02:30:23Z")
When I started teaching college, my student nightmares flipped around: I started having dreams where it’s the end of the semester and I realize there were classes I forgot to _teach_. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/57 "2017-05-28T13:50:44Z")
I mentioned in post #2 that my dreams vary, but usually have the same theme. I’m trying to go somewhere, but obstacles appear in my way. It’s all about feeling frustrated and held back. Last night I had a new variation. I was trying to copy information from someone on the phone. But every time they gave me a phone number or address they faded out at some point so I’d miss a couple of numbers. Then I’d ask them to repeat it and the same thing would happen. That’s the first time the frustration dream wasn’t physical in nature, and involved another person. Not sure what this means. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/58 "2017-05-28T15:01:58Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > I still occasionally get the academic stress dream, and it’s always the same. “They” (never clear who) have discovered that I never passed high school government. They are going to take away my high school diploma, which will in turn invalidate my BS, my PhD, and my JD. My one last chance to keep my degrees is to re-take high school government. But the class is at 8 AM, and I keep not being able to wake up in time to get to it. My version is virtually identical, with the respective degrees swapped out, and usually, it’s a math test. Dreams like this are so incredibly common, it fascinates me. Long after we finish school, we still dream about it. I wonder why that is? I haven’t had half as many dreams about fucking up on the job as I have about fucking up at school. And I did really well in school. I dream often that I have a bunch of pets I forgot to take care of, and now they are dying or dead and I am freaking out that people will think I’m an irresponsible person for letting my animals die. This most commonly manifests as a massive, scummy aquarium full of dying or dead fish that I am afraid to clean out. I know the longer I wait, the worse it’s going to get, but I can never bring myself to clean it, because I am so grossed out. My worst dreams are that I’m a teenager living at home again. I did not have an idyllic childhood. I usually start screaming at my parents and then wake up from the sound of my own screaming voice. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/59 "2017-05-28T17:07:21Z")
Wow, quite impressive that our stress dreams fall into some distinct categories. In my OP I forgot to list the “phone stress” dream: I dial and dial and dial, but can’t get the number right; this is always on the type of rotary phone I grew up with. I also have the school anxiety dreams, but now they are most often about forgetting to teach a class for an entire semester or wandering around a vast campus desperately trying to find the classroom in which I’m supposed to be teaching. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943/60 "2017-05-28T19:05:38Z")
> [@huitzilopochtli](#): > > When I worked as a cocktail waitress, I would often have server nightmares. The worst 2: > > I dreamt I had fallen asleep at work after my closing shift, and when the rest of the staff woke me up to start my opening shift the next morning, I already had a full section as well as a full section at the restaurant across the street. Of course, all of the customers were angrily waving me down and I couldn’t keep any of the orders straight and had to make my own drinks so I made everybody Long Island iced teas. At the time I was IRL occasionally getting home from work at 5 am and scheduled to be back in 5 hours. > > Second one, dreamt I came home from work to find that my boss had set up tables in my living room, dining room and kitchen and most of them were already seated. I angrily and loudly told him he’d finally gone too far and went to bed and closed the door. Woke up in a panic. > > I still occasionally have bar tending nightmares, even tho I haven’t worked in a bar for years. Every time, there will be bar stools set up on the wrong side of the bar so that I have to crawl over people to make drinks. And as soon as I get a drink order, the customer leaves. Almost all of my stress dreams revolve around working in restaurants. Although I was a bartender like you for many years, all of my restaurant nightmares center around waiting tables, I’m always in the weeds, can’t get caught up, people are unhappy, etc. When I wake up from these I always think “Thank God I don’t do that anymore”. Frankly I’m surprised I still have those considering that I haven’t worked in a restaurant since 2005. > [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > \*\*I saw a blurb on the news about people that were stuck on a stopped roller coaster for hours \*\*and just the sight of it elicited a flash of the [del]anxiety [/del]terror I feel when I dream about being being stuck up high on a structure or holding onto a ledge, screaming my head off for help and feeling like I can’t hold on another second. I’m not in any way afraid of heights and I love roller coasters; obviously this is a dream about feeling trapped and begging for help. Funny enough, I haven’t had the teeth dream in years but that’s probably because I’m living with real life dental nightmares. This actually happened to myself and my two sons a couple summers ago at Kings Island. We were on the Diamondback rollercoaster and we were ascending the lift hill when the train lurched to a stop. Workers climbed the catwalk ladder next to the train to assure us that everything was okay and that maintenance crews were on their way. It was brutally hot that day and it was about 1:00PM, so the sun was directly overhead and because of the steep angle of ascent, the train was tilted at such a degree that it put the sun right in our faces. After about 30-ish minutes, maintenance crews were still working on the train and the ride operators and management started handing out bottled water to us. After about another half hour, a lady comes up and announces to us that the ride is ready to go, and advised us that the train may roll slightly backwards before going up the hill and told us not to worry. She leaves, and sure enough, the ride starts up. We were all cheering as it was pretty uncomfortable up there in the hot sun and we were relieved to get moving. After about ten or fifteen feet, the damn thing stopped again. The groans accompanying this along with the fading death of the cheering were in retrospect pretty damn funny. It was not dissimilar to the sudden quiet in a large sports arena when cheering suddenly turns to dust with a sudden bad play by the home team. We were stranded for about another 30 minutes before the decision was made to evacuate the ride. They call in fire and rescue to start taking people off the train. My sons and I were about in the middle of the ride, about 80-ish feet in the air at this point. The way they evacuated the ride was from behind. They literally had a guy climbing up the back of the ride while tied off to a safety harness, and he was handing safety harnesses out to us so we could cable off to a steel cable across from us above the handrail of the catwalk. At this point there’s a dozen or so workers/rescuers/managers standing on the catwalk, all tied off to the same cable. More water is distributed. I am behind my sons so when it is my turn, they have me put on the belt, attach the cable to the carabiner, and am instructed to stand on the plastic “snake” part of the ride. They have to help you get up, the angle was too steep to stand on your own after they released the ride constraints. My problem was I looked down. Between the train and the catwalk there’s this gap, maybe two and a half feet wide, with nothing underneath. Just the ground staring back up at me. I was instructed to “hop like a bunny” (memories of _Fear and Loathing_) across the (ever widening!) gap onto the platform. It really was no problem it was just very surreal. As soon as I was off, a lady appeared and tried to rush me down the the staircase. I said “Lady, those are my sons right there, and I’m not leaving this spot until they are off the ride and with me”. This upset her and was clearly against her instructions but I was unmoved. Anyway, my boys get off no problem and we go down the stairs and were ushered into the gift shop that they’d closed off just for “the survivors”. I was immediately accosted by a woman that wanted my name and address, and she was evasive about why, which in my mind got me thinking “they don’t want to get sued”. I gave it to her, and we were informed that free LaRosa’s pizza and more cold bottled water awaited us. SO that was nice. I felt really bad for the people towards the front of the ride, about 45 minutes later we were across from the ride and the rescue team was still a couple cars behind the people in the very front. So for us, it was about a three hour delay all told. For them, probably a little over four. Fast forward a few hours and the ride is back online, so we decide to ride it, because it’s awesome, my favorite ride in the park. We rode it without incident. Two funny asides: 1. This was all my fault, according to my boys. We had just gotten to the park and we just happened to be walking by the Diamondback, still deciding which ride to get on first. My sons wanted to go over to the Banshee, a new ride KI had that season. But I told them we should ride the Diamondback first since we were already so near it. Preventable! 2. While waiting in line to ride it once it was working again, we were talking about being stuck on it with some people in front of us that had noted it being closed earlier, and a guy in the next aisle was like “Oh, you guys were stuck on it too? So were we!” Made the local news and everything. They even brought the news helicopter in to hover around our helpless selves. [http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/warren-county/mason/diamondback-roller-coaster-breaks-down-temporarily-stranding-riders](http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/warren-county/mason/diamondback-roller-coaster-breaks-down-temporarily-stranding-riders) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-stress-dreams/786943.md?page=4)