Recurring Dream

[Stargazer65]

I have this frequent recurring dream where I am driving alone at night, and I'm struggling to stay awake. It's always a dark empty stretch of road, like a deserted country road through the woods, or in the mountains (usually with a steep drop off on one side). Always very dark, and I'll nod off and veer towards the edge, often several times until I eventually panic and jolt awake. Last night was the worst...instead of a country or mountain road, I was on a bridge. Again it was dark and deserted, and the bridge was very narrow and long, and it had no guardrails, the edge was just a straight drop off into the dark water. I was driving and veering, struggling to stay alert, until eventually I jolted awake. This was about 4:45 in the morning.

I know a lot of people have recurring dreams. Anybody ever have similar dream experiences to this, or other dream experiences you wanted to share? (keep it clean please ) I was curious if the driving dream was just me.

 

[tvguy]

I think some sort of "peril" is a common trend in recurring dreams. See my post in the Seniors forum on "work stress" dreams for people who are retired.

 

[Stargazer65]

"work stress" dreams for people who are retired

Thanks for that...yeah, I have those too!

 

[fla4fun]

I used to have a lot of different driving scenario dreams when I was working. Sometimes I would be sitting on the floor driving where I couldn’t see the road or anything. Sometimes I would be lost or driving in dangerous conditions. I haven’t had one of those since I lost my job during the pandemic. Now I have a lot of working dreams, which makes sense since I am looking for a job.

 

[citruscurtis]

Do you drive... others drive for you...rush hour... what are you watching...so up till I was 40 my father was always driving off the grade into Big Bear lake California... because as a child he would scare us with the curves on the grade...so fearful that we wanted to be asleep before the climb.. other peril was bears chasing me...at the age of 68 my dream themes are walking... always walking into private property, close to peril but never caught... nice about retirement is that I am no longer naked at work

 

[Travel60]

I've had two recurring dreams at very different times of my life.

When I was a child we used to visit my grandparents on their very rural farm. We had to cross a ditch that to a child looked huge. The farmers routinely cut the side rails of the wooden bridge so they could get across with their equipment. I was terrified of that bridge. I used to wake up having dreamed that our house was balanced on that bridge and the smallest movement would make it tumble. To convince myself otherwise I would very slowly creep to a window to look out and see that we were still safely in our land. That pattern went into my young teens.

The second started with the birth of my second child. I think I was overwhelmed with the care of two children. The dream had me driving across a bridge (again a bridge!) and over the edge. As the car sunk, I had to figure out how to save both children - both in car seats in the back seat --- do I release the older to fend for themself while I get the baby? Do I try to hold both even if I can't get both to surface. I used to wake up agitated and sweating. Avoided all bridges!

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I have a couple recurring dreams (nightmares?)

1. I am thrown into a classroom as a teacher and there is some big problem (be it lack of resources, lack of preparation, completely outrageous kids). Maybe because I taught for 20 years?
2. I am a student again, and there is a class that I forgot to attend all semester.
3. Teeth falling out.

 

[Kitty 34]

I have a couple recurring dreams (nightmares?)

1. I am thrown into a classroom as a teacher and there is some big problem (be it lack of resources, lack of preparation, completely outrageous kids). Maybe because I taught for 20 years?
2. I am a student again, and there is a class that I forgot to attend all semester.
3. Teeth falling out.

I have your #1 dream all the time. I attribute it to 30 some years of substitute teaching. And I've been retired 10 years!!

 

[MICKIMINI]

A week before Christmas, DH had a vivid dream and actually rolled out of bed! I heard a thud and realized he was on the floor. He took blankets with him and didn't fall far since our Sleep Number bed thankfully has the short legs, though our oak flooring has concrete under it yikes. He didn't get hurt but we were both shaken up. It has never happened and he takes no medication and we do not drink.

He had a dream that he was hiding under brush and was told to roll out of the way... I really do not know what that was all about. He just took a week off for Thanksgiving and was ready for another two weeks off for Christmas. He still does not have any idea how that happened.

Weird!

 

[citruscurtis]

I have a couple recurring dreams (nightmares?)

1. I am thrown into a classroom as a teacher and there is some big problem (be it lack of resources, lack of preparation, completely outrageous kids). Maybe because I taught for 20 years?

100% true... about every 3months...and cotton mouth... this is why I quit drama.. forgetting lines.. more anxiety than lack of lessons

 

[lovesmurfs]

I have a couple that seem to be variations on a theme, as previously noted, during times of high stress.

I'm either in a new house, a former house, or in a hotel and have a million different stairways to go up/down -- and the layout of each floor is like a maze. I have some appointment somewhere in the building, but can't figure out how to get there. This often leads to falling off a tall building and experiencing free fall.

I also have tidal wave dreams.

When I was in my early teens (couldn't have been more than 12-13), I read an article about how we can be psychologically stronger if we control our dreams while we're experiencing them, so over the years I've worked to solve my problems that I'm experiencing in the dreams. I haven't found a way to stop the free fall -- I usually just have to wake up.

 

[JLTraveling]

I have a couple recurring dreams (nightmares?)

1. I am thrown into a classroom as a teacher and there is some big problem (be it lack of resources, lack of preparation, completely outrageous kids). Maybe because I taught for 20 years?
2. I am a student again, and there is a class that I forgot to attend all semester.
3. Teeth falling out.

I have your second dream periodically. Always back in high school, not college.

When I was a kid, I had recurring slanted floor dreams. I would be standing somewhere perfectly level, and all of a sudden the floor would sharply tilt, and I'd have to scramble to keep from falling into the abyss.

Most recently, it's a haunted house. Big, huge place with crazy architecture and stairs to nowhere, like the Winchester House (which I've never been to). Interestingly, it's always the same house, but I see different parts of it in each dream. Kinda weird.

 

[Living42Day]

I've been having some insane dreams lately, very vivid. So vivid, in fact, that the objects in my dream are still there when I open my eyes for a few seconds, which can be horrifying.

No driving dreams, luckily. Usually just spiders crawling on me or birds flying through the room lol

I attribute it to stress. I don't tend to feel when I am under a lot of stress during the day but can always tell when I start having chaotic, memorable dreams.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Interesting, yes I have had the dream where I am driving while so tired that I am falling asleep dream, and this is the first time I have heard of someone else having it. Along with the more common "OMG I forgot to study for the exam" dream, and of course the classic "suddenly realize I am unclothed in a public place" dream.

 

[citruscurtis]

Interesting, yes I have had the dream and of course the classic "suddenly realize I am unclothed in a public place" dream.

The Classic

 

[citruscurtis]

Is ead an article about how we can be psychologically stronger if we control our dreams while we're experiencing them, so over the years I've worked to solve my problems that I'm experiencing in the dreams. I haven't found a way to stop the free fall -- I usually just have to wake up.

The only two dreams I can control is when I am at Bizzaro Disneyland and I can navigate and actually search where they put attractions during the remodel and when climbing to the very top of mountains...I actually tell myself that I have to wake up if I want to leave the cliff or can't back down

 

[JLTraveling]

I've taught myself that if I want to wake up (like a nightmare or something), I have to scream in my dream. Somehow that dream action leads to me waking up (without screaming in real life)...usually. Except one night I had a dream within a dream within a dream. I can't remember the original dream, but it was scary, so I screamed. And "woke up." Only, my room was really odd, with just random small things out of place. I realized I was still dreaming, so I screamed again. And "woke up" again. This time my room looked OK, but I got up and walked out to a hallway overlooking the first floor...not at all the way my house was laid out. So I screamed AGAIN, and finally woke up for real...though it took me 10 minutes of investigating the house to be sure I was actually awake lol.

Has anyone ever had a prophetic dream? When my grandmother was a young teen, she and her mother both had the exact same dream on the exact same night. In it, her father left for work in a taxi, and was killed when the taxi was hit by a train. They laughed about it over breakfast, and then he left for work. In a taxi. And was killed exactly as in the dream.

I had one the night before the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, but it wasn't nearly that clear. It was like a bird's eye view of a big metal thing exploding with lots of smoke and debris. It freaked me and my friend out, because she was flying out that day to go home to London after finishing a 6-month internship in New Orleans. We thought something might happen to her plane. But as soon as I saw the news footage of the shuttle, I realized that was exactly what my dream looked like. Scary stuff!

 

[gmi3804]

I have the school dream still: The semester is 2/3 over, and I haven't gone to class in weeks, but I think if I just start going back I'll get through the class. But i don't remember my schedule or where the rooms are, and I don't want to be embarrassed by suddenly showing up again, so I just give up.

I also have the driving down a dark road, faster and faster, out of control because I'm sleepy dream.

These are NOT wishes my heart makes!

 

[#1hoosierfan]

my teeth falling out or being loose. I finally googled it years ago. It is common when you are feeling like you do have control over some part of your life. I do have this dream more when I am feeling stressed about things.

After high school I dreamed about not being able to remember the combination to my locker for years and years.

 

[lovesmurfs]

I had one the night before the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, but it wasn't nearly that clear. It was like a bird's eye view of a big metal thing exploding with lots of smoke and debris. It freaked me and my friend out, because she was flying out that day to go home to London after finishing a 6-month internship in New Orleans. We thought something might happen to her plane. But as soon as I saw the news footage of the shuttle, I realized that was exactly what my dream looked like. Scary stuff!

I had a similar dream before the Challenger disaster. I was in my dorm room my freshman year of college and told my roommate about it. Shortly afterward, we heard about the disaster.

To this day, I'm not sure whether I'd heard about it on my radio (I was queen of the snooze button) and created the explosion in my head in dream state or if I just dreamed it, but seeing it on TV later, it was just like my dream.