I've been retired since July and just had my first one since retirement two nights ago. It's wild too, I haven't had an arthritis flare up in four year (my rheumatologist says my arthritis is in remission), but my knuckles on my one hand were a little swollen when I woke up. It wasn't bad enough to take anything for it, etc. but it's wild how stress can affect us physically too.
I know what triggered the dream too. I am Power or Attorney for an Aunt who is having a horrible time in assisted living and in hospice with all her allergies and my one hour phone call with her (she lives six hours away from me), my thoughts about a mini trip to see her and what I am going to try to do for her, and the BIG to do list of things she wants me to do for her and her pain / anxiety really got to me, and I'm 99% sure that's what triggered this particular dream and the swollen knuckles. Crazy.
I've told myself again and again that her stress, misery, and anxiety while I try to have empathy and be compassionate is not going to affect my joy. And that being retired, I'm going to enjoy my other activities, exercise, and volunteer work (not have her stuff encroach on that) and just slowly work thru the list of things I have to do for her (prioritizing items) and methodically working her list down. I've made great progress too and am keeping up with her stuff.
Hey and I didn't have that stress dream last night and overall I think I've done a pretty good job at not letting her stuff affect me. The truth is though we are only human and for me I do care about others and as hard as I try sometimes their stress and anxiety does affect me from time to time. It's a fine balancing line between being empathetic and distancing yourself and having needed boundaries.
At work (I was in IT) and other times too (a seemingly overwhelming to do list, deadline pressures, people to keep happy who are hard to keep happy, etc.) is what would at times trigger a stress dream. They weren't regular dreams for me, but I would get them a few times a year when I was under a lot of pressure and I always felt like I knew exactly what triggered them and would laugh about that.