Recurrent nightmares/dreams

I have this recurrent nightmare that comes at least once a month. I always dream about being late and/or going to the wrong place. I always have this dream before an important day (i.e first day of school, first day of work, appointment and etc) but I also get this dream at random times. In the dream, I generally don't feel panicked at all (which is the complete opposite of if it would happen in real life), I usually wander around not sure what I'm looking for, stopping generally at a place that has nothing to do with my original location (for exemple if I'm late for a class, I usually decide to go into another classroom even though mine is nearby). My relaxed attitude is always stopped by a realization of the consequences for my lateness and then I start to feel extremely panicked and I wake up almost crying everytime.

Except for a fear of being late, I don't really see what this is about...

Anybody else have recurrent nightmares?

I have had nightmares about demonic possession since I was a very young child, but I didn't always know that they were about that. In the earliest dreams, it was spread like some kind of disease, where one person who was infected could scratch another person on the back of the hand, and the second person suddenly became evil and was not himself or herself anymore, even though there was no visible difference. Usually, the people who had the disease that made them evil were family members or close friends. I have caught the "disease" from my mother, a female second cousin, and my brother, all in separate dreams. When it happens, I can feel everything changing inside of me. I can look out, and everything seems to have a reddish tint. All of my love for others goes away and gets replaced with something sinister. It is the worst feeling I can imagine. I can never guess who has been taken over until that person gives some kind of sign, usually just before spreading the evil to me. Sometimes he or she says something mysterious or creepy first, or gives me a look to indicate that he or she has won. That is usually the climax of the nightmare, and is the moment that sticks with me the longest after I am awake. Every time I had one of these nightmares, it was as if I was emotionally sick for at least a day or two afterward. That might be normal. I don't know what it is like when other children have nightmares. I would be distracted in school, and the dark feeling wouldn't leave even while I was doing things I would usually enjoy. When I got older, the hand scratching theme went away and the "disease" was revealed in its true form. It changed a bit over time, as my understanding changed, but the core of the meaning has always been the same. Now, my possession dreams usually involve more direct attacks, where I am in a place that makes me afraid, or a situation that makes me afraid, and I can feel something pushing its consciousness into me, overtaking mine. I try to fight it, try to scream, try to wake up, and I can't.

I also have recurring nightmares about my ex, as if I were still with him. Usually he is trying to kill me, or is just being randomly violent. I have nightmares about sexual violence and other forms of bullying a lot more than a normal person probably would, too.

Originally Posted by xToXiCx

I have this recurrent nightmare that comes at least once a month. I always dream about being late and/or going to the wrong place. I always have this dream before an important day (i.e first day of school, first day of work, appointment and etc) but I also get this dream at random times. In the dream, I generally don't feel panicked at all (which is the complete opposite of if it would happen in real life), I usually wander around not sure what I'm looking for, stopping generally at a place that has nothing to do with my original location (for exemple if I'm late for a class, I usually decide to go into another classroom even though mine is nearby). My relaxed attitude is always stopped by a realization of the consequences for my lateness and then I start to feel extremely panicked and I wake up almost crying everytime.

Except for a fear of being late, I don't really see what this is about...

Anybody else have recurrent nightmares?

The pattern you describe I can relate to. But in my case I panic in the dream whereas in reality I almost never panic at all. In my recuring dream I am told I have to go on stage and act - but no one told me I was in the show, and I dont know my lines, so I'm panicing about trying to learn them and finding out what's going on.

In reality of course if someone told me that randomly I would just say 'sorry, no one told me about this, I'm not doing it', end of story - but in the dream it's very much as tho my normal response mechanisms arn't present and the dream demonstrates what happens when that mechanism isnt there. Either it's my curiosity at knowing how I would react if I were the polar opposite to what I am, or my real life response is a learned one and my underlying self wants to panic and is terrified of that kind of out of control stressful event.....who knows...

Plus I have acted in the past and been stressed out about remembering my lines in front of a thousand people.... So there is a real world stimulus to it too.

I get that, too. The majority of my sex dreams have been about someone I briefly wanted in high school. We flirted back and forth, but because we were in different cliques, nothing ever came of it. I think he was an INFP. Anyhow, I never think of him when I am awake, and have loved someone more since then, but for some reason, I can only think of maybe four sex dreams that I have ever had that weren't about him. He wrote the most amazing short stories and did interesting symbolic artwork. I saw him years later, and found that he had been spending time in Alaska, studying the bible, not just reading it, but writing it out by hand like a monk, trying to absorb it all.

Originally Posted by snail

I would be distracted in school, and the dark feeling wouldn't leave even while I was doing things I would usually enjoy. When I got older, the hand scratching theme went away and the "disease" was revealed in its true form. It changed a bit over time, as my understanding changed, but the core of the meaning has always been the same. Now, my possession dreams usually involve more direct attacks, where I am in a place that makes me afraid, or a situation that makes me afraid, and I can feel something pushing its consciousness into me, overtaking mine. I try to fight it, try to scream, try to wake up, and I can't.

I sort of understand what you mean, somtimes I have nightmares where I suffer from an unknown disease. The day after I can't help but feel terrible, no matter how stupid the dream actually was.

Originally Posted by musicalpyramid

In reality of course if someone told me that randomly I would just say 'sorry, no one told me about this, I'm not doing it', end of story - but in the dream it's very much as tho my normal response mechanisms arn't present and the dream demonstrates what happens when that mechanism isnt there. Either it's my curiosity at knowing how I would react if I were the polar opposite to what I am, or my real life response is a learned one and my underlying self wants to panic and is terrified of that kind of out of control stressful event.....who knows...

Interesting theory! Actually in real life, in the situation that you described, I would probably say the same.

Originally Posted by Dysthymania

Ah yes.. sorry if this sounds a little bit creepy; but I dream occasionally about a person that I had feelings for in early high school; but actually didn't knew (it's complicated... ok!).

I completely am the same. I don't know why but I have always felt a strange attraction to strangers. I often dream of people who I've never actually met. If only they knew! Sometimes I wonder if I'm someone's stranger... Strangely, I hope so

I have a recurring dream where I put on my robe and wizard hat to battle Internet trolls by casting 50 Harlequin Baby Post. The dream finishes when I ride a Mudkip into the Kingdom of Ceiling Cat, where I can has unlmted cheezburger.

Originally Posted by Robatix

I have a recurring dream where I put on my robe and wizard hat to battle Internet trolls by casting 50 Harlequin Baby Post. When I'm asleep long enough, I ride a Mudkip into the Kingdom of Ceiling Cat, where I can has unlmted cheezburgers.

XD You must be sad when you wake up!

Originally Posted by xToXiCx

I have this recurrent nightmare that comes at least once a month. I always dream about being late and/or going to the wrong place. I always have this dream before an important day (i.e first day of school, first day of work, appointment and etc) but I also get this dream at random times. In the dream, I generally don't feel panicked at all (which is the complete opposite of if it would happen in real life), I usually wander around not sure what I'm looking for, stopping generally at a place that has nothing to do with my original location (for exemple if I'm late for a class, I usually decide to go into another classroom even though mine is nearby). My relaxed attitude is always stopped by a realization of the consequences for my lateness and then I start to feel extremely panicked and I wake up almost crying everytime.

Except for a fear of being late, I don't really see what this is about...

Anybody else have recurrent nightmares?

Having this dream before an important day is not a co-incidence. Your worries stays strongly inside you that it even enter the dream. The fact that you get it randomly other times show that you are someone who worries about some things or people often.

I am constantly having dreams where I am a special agent trying to get bad guys and constantly having to change location and my identity. I don't know what it means.

Originally Posted by xToXiCx

XD You must be sad when you wake up!

You don't know the half of it. :(