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01 January 2010

My nightmares have become extremely mundane and not so scary. [More:]I don't seem to have "oh my god" scary nightmares anymore. This morning I woke up from a troubling dream which was, well, not the worse thing in the world.

I dreamed that I had a sudden last minute flight to Alaska (I have no idea why) and rushed onto the plain without my bag that has my drawing pads, MP3 player, and magazines. As I walked on the stewardess told me they have nothing to read. That's pretty much it. On one hand, that sounds like a living hell to me (sitting in one place for a long time without my music or anything to read), but hardly the stuff of nightmares.

Recently I also had a dream where I was in a huge parking lot looking for a spot and kept getting further from the store I was going to. When I found a spot it turned out I was now in an entirely different mall. I swear that dream went on for ten minutes of me just driving around looking for parking. I've also had several dreams about waiting in longs lines that don't move.

Does it mean anything when your most memorable dreams are, well, not so memorable? My nightmares used to involve tragedies like fires and tidal waves, being chased by wild animals or assorted bad guys. And now it's all about inconveniences. Do you still have "jump out of bed" nightmares, or is mellowing out on dreams just part of getting older?
such dreams are usually called "anxiety" dreams rather than nightmares.


I used to have nightmares all the time. Wake up in a cold sweat shaking kinda of nightmares. They'd always start out normal, but then Something Horrible would happen very suddenly, like getting shot out of the blue. Lucid dreaming techniques helped me control them, I'd have to remind myself "wait, okay where am I? How did I get here - exactly? Who is this person." etc, and the constant questioning of the dream reality usually caused the nightmare to dissolve. I still get anxiety dreams, like you describe, which suck cause they're not surreal enough to make me go "wait! this might not be real!" but at least I'm not getting run over by trucks or having my toes cut off every night.
posted by The Whelk 01 January | 10:47
I try not to overanalyze my dreams (when I do remember them, they're usually of the 'end of the world and we're all fuuuuucked' flavor).

Then again, if I do wake up remembering one, it tends to throw me off for the rest of the day, just because my brain keeps revisiting it.

I hate dreaming. I never have good dreams, just violent, angry, death dreams.
posted by sperose 01 January | 11:18
I don't have too many nightmares. I can remember two, maybe. One involved shooters in Albertsons supermarket.

I woke up screaming a few weeks ago. I sat straight up in bed and let out two loud screams. My husband immediately woke up and surfed over to light switch in his underwear in 0.5 seconds. I have no idea what I was dreaming about.
posted by LoriFLA 01 January | 11:52
such dreams are usually called "anxiety" dreams rather than nightmares.

I hear what you're saying, but for me, it's not that clearcut: I can have a panicky, paralyzing nightmare that sounds completely mundane, or a scenario that sounds like a nightmare when described but that never feels like a nightmare.

I had a couple of terrifying nightmares, and the only one I can remember sounds like a fairly mild anxiety dream: people at a party were a little snarky to me, and all the drains at said party (which were oddly plentiful) were clogged up. It was terrifying. It was a full-fledged nightmare.
posted by Elsa 01 January | 16:43
I don't have many nightmares, maybe one a year where I wake with a pounding heart and I have to grab my partner's hand to reassure myself it was a dream. More often I have anxiety dreams, or dreams of extreme anger/heartbrokenness and I'll hang onto those emotions long after I've woken.

Alaska isn't that scary, but the flights are long.
posted by rhapsodie 01 January | 16:47
Oops: I meant "I've had a couple of terrifying nightmares this week."
posted by Elsa 01 January | 16:50
Alaska isn't that scary, but the flights are long.

I dreamed a few days ago that I discovered an Alaskan form of voodoo. People out in the woods were practicing rituals with small bones and sticks wrapped in strips of fur.
posted by BoringPostcards 01 January | 18:04
I still have nightmares, sometimes night terrors. I will find myself standing in my living room with clammy wet skin terrified. I don't ever remember what I was dreaming about or how I came to be standing in my living room, just being terrified. These only happen once a month or so. I jump out of bed at least once or twice a week thinking someone is standing in my living room (I live alone). I'm not sure what that says about my mental health. Last night I had one about these crazy neighbor that were stalking me and sinking my boat and car in the river by the treehouse I was living in (I dont live in or near a treehouse, nor is there a river nearby, nor do I have a boat. I do however have a car.)

I hate it when the bf stays over and I have one. It scares him to death when I wake up breathing hard and kicking to get away from him.

If you are wanting weird dreams take just 1 too many melatonin tabs. I made that mistake....Once.
posted by meeshell 01 January | 20:50
The dreaming mind is so fucked up, I always said I never had a bad experience on any kind of recreational substance cause of my years dealing with Nightmares and very vivid dreams - I can tell an alternative reality pretty quickly, mostly by constant awareness (i am here! in this room! on this bed! are there any inconsistencies?) and questioning the logic, which can sometimes bleed into Actuality.


Just this morning I woke up next to the BF saying:

"what did we eat last night?"

"what?"

"We where at the Thai place, in the tent, I ordered a spicy chicken to share, rice, and a Mai Thai. But I can't remember eating it."

"Uh, we had steak last night."

"Oh! Good, that was a dream. Just making sure. I was worried we didn't pay."
posted by The Whelk 01 January | 21:44
I dreamed a few days ago that I discovered an Alaskan form of voodoo.

I'm sorry we can't be friends any more, BP.
posted by rhapsodie 02 January | 00:16
Year O' Books. || This is a hangover thread.

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