Throughout my childhood, I had a recurring dream of being chased up a grand, spiral stairwell by a large brown bear. My dream was always in black and white, yet I knew the stairwell was red and the bear was brown. Over time, that dream went away, and then for a decade in my early adulthood, I dreamt that I hadn't finished a class in high school or college and had to go back to finish it. In my dream, I would be the age I was in real life at the time, and I would figure out and wonder how I could possibly adjust my current life to go back to finish school (I either had a job or a husband or kids). Every time I dreamt it my real life had moved along yet I was dreaming the same scenario that I thought I had to go back to.
I think recurring dreams are so interesting because they're all supposed to mean something, right? Like you're worried or anxious…but the fact that you can have the same one over and over again must really mean something. What that is…I have no idea…
Do you guys have recurring dreams? If so, what about? I find them so interesting!
Oh, and happy weekend!
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Every night I had that ‘hurtling towards a stop sign or traffic light and the breaks in the car fail’ dream. I eventually figured out it was money worry because when I fixed the problem the dream stopped. Now if that dream ever pops up I just sit down and check my budget. Dreams are fascinating things
I think you mean ‘recurring’ dreams!
Ah good one! I love that you figured it out!
Joy
Oops! Yes, you are right! Fixed now 😉
Joy
OH MY GOD! I have the exact same recuring dream about finishing School! Waoh, that is weird!
I also have school dreams. Usually placed in what looks like my middle school (so crazy since it’s been 20+ years!)! I’ve forgotten to study for a test or even go to class for a prolonged period of time and am freaking out. My other is I go to my locker and can’t remember the combo lock. I’ve had it so often that when I needed a lock for the gym, I got a key lock as I couldn’t take the anxiety of a combo lock!
I have three different recurring dreams. One is me, going to the bus stop for school and being completely naked. The second is me trying to run away from something and my legs not working, like their stuck in mud or something. I can eventually get moving, but it’s almost as if I’m moving in slow motion. The third one is the best and it’s me up in the air, then beginning to fall, but then catching the wind and flying, soaring over the earth!
Have a great weekend!
My favourite recurring is dream is about flying. Somehow I run, do breaststroke with my arms and slowly I rise into the sky. I’ve had it so often that I’ve almost tried while awake lol!
For more than 10 years, I had the same kind of dream about waves, large tsunami type tidal waves, but each each scenario was slightly different. Some involved crashing over giant rocks, or buildings, or just big ones at the beach. They all had one thing in common, in each dream, I remember feeling a sense of panic, trying to hold on to something or run as fast as I could, but my legs were often stuck. Last year, magically enough, my last dream about waves involved me learning how to surf over some gentle ones, and the overwhelming giant wave dreams have since stopped!
I have a recurring dream where I suddenly realize that I didn’t attend a particular class so I hadn’t really graduated yet. It makes me shudder! spent 8 years in college (I shifted majors 3 times) so this dream gives me so much anxiety.
that’s so similar to mine! i wonder what we ware worried about!
joy
Haha! I love that! That reminds me I have that happen too. I love it! It’s the only recurring dream I like! ;P
Joy
Ah! That’s so cool and interesting how that evolved and then went away!
Joy
I had a recurring dream throughout my 20s & 30s of riding a bike. Sometimes I would start out driving a car, or running even, then I’d find myself on a bike pedaling aimlessly, not knowing where I was going. Sometimes a friend or family member would be there, but not always. I read somewhere that these dreams usually signify having to make a difficult or important decision in your life.
I have had multiple recurring dreams throughout my life. Usually they are when I am stressed. When I was little I often dreamed that monsters were coming in our house. I would be watching through the upstairs banister. My dad always rescued us in the end. When I was a little older I often had recurring nightmares of being kidnapped by men driving a tractor trailer. Usually it was me and several friends. They would drive us around in this dark truck, but we always ended up at my grandmothers house, where I was safe! I also frequently dreamed (when I was about 5) that me and my friends were stuck in my moms car and had to drive it ourselves. We would always have to go around very sharp curves and eventually we would make it to church. Later I would dream of tornadoes in stressful times (I live where tornadoes are very common). Now I’ve started to notice I dream about theme parks. There are always these amazing rides for movies or stories that I love, but I can never find all the rides HAHA Obviously I have very vivid dreams. I almost always remember them. There are so many dreams from my childhood that I can still recount.
I’ve had a recurring dream about my teeth either rotting or cracking or just falling out. Apparently it’s a pretty common one for some people, and can signal the dreamer is in a transitional stage. Whatever causes it, it always really freaks me out!
I have the tooth dream and definitely the dream about finishing school….but anyone have the dream that they are at school or anywhere else and there legs don’t work, legs like really heavy?? Or…that they have no clothes on??
My whole life I’ve had recurring dreams about swimming pools. Sometimes they’re scary; the water is terrifyingly deep, or I’m falling into a pool that is not deep enough. There’s always something scary about height and depth in those ones. The other ones are usually immensely happy and satisfying, where I’m swimming and feel at home. I’m able to breathe underwater and fly out and back into the pool as quick and graceful as a dolphin or whale. I just keep jumping out of the water and back in, twirling and gliding and smiling. It’s my happiest dream. Learning to swim when I was 3 is my earliest memory, and these dreams continued to impact me so much that I recently took up lap swimming again after a 15 year hiatus!!
Then, in recent years after lap swimming again, I started dreaming about the ocean for the first time. I’m swimming at night and there are magical bioluminescent blue plankton glowing in the water. Or I’m in clear tripical waters and a ray swims up and let’s me pet it! However, these dreams are always bittersweet. In the plankton one I was swimming alongside a raft with climate change refugees. And while petting the ray I cried, saying “I’m sorry” to it over and over because of how much our species is trashing the ocean. All I can theorize is that they’re showing me that you can always find beauty no matter how bad a situation gets.
Thank you for starting this discussion! I’m fascinated by recurring dreams too!
I really love reading these comments so far! I’ve had a reoccurring dream since childhood of dropping spiders, I always wake before they hit my face. It’s pretty awful lol. I have read that it can be tied to creativity or complexity, but come on like can I please choose a different reoccurring dream??
Lauren (@dahl_ _house)
Tidal waves… my dreams are always in a different scene but there is always a tidal wave that is coming towards me and just misses me or I get rescued just in time. When I googled this it says dreaming of large waves represents a big life event or change that is coming and sure enough I had these dream a few times a week before I moved overseas (I’ve moved 3 times now) and before each of my children were born! I find all this really interesting too, in general my dreams are always so vivid and when I look up the meaning of other dreams I have found they always relate to what is going on in my life. Another one I have when I am a bit stressed or anxious is trying to dial a number for help and I can never dial the full number no matter how hard I try…
In middle school into late high school I had a reoccurring dream that I was home alone with just my sister. A “bad guy” would break into our house and I would hide in the closet. The whole dream I was trying to get out of the house and run across the street to our neighbors’ house. I would wake up at varying points in the dream… leaving the closet, getting close to door to escape, opening the door… Then one night I made it out the door and across the street. After I made it across the street… I never had the dream again!
wow! so interesting! thanks for sharing!
joy
At the beginning of our relationship, my husband and I did long distance for two years. During that time I used to have a recurring dream that I would be in a big warehouse or supermarket and I knew that Sam was in there as well but I couldn’t find him. I would see people I knew and they would say, ‘Sam is down that way’ but I would never be able to get to him.
When I was younger ( after finishing school though) I always used to dream I was late for school and had this fear of getting in trouble or something terrible happening. Now that I have kids I have this recurring dream that I forgot to pick up my child from day care and realise when its really late and I have to rush there from work ( usually) and I can never remember where Ive parked my car. Sometimes I make it in time sometimes I have to call up and have them wait for me.
I dont work at the moment either. I have no idea what this means – if anyone has any thoughts please do share!!!