Sunset view from our neighborhood.
The other night, I dreamt I was at a golf course. There were tons of people I knew from my children’s elementary school. The clubhouse and first tee were packed. I was playing in a charity golf tournament.
I was so excited when I found out who I was paired with. JACK NICKLAUS! WooHoo. We were sure to win. I glanced around at the parents from my kids’ school with a smug look on my face. They looked back at me with shocked expressions.
When I grabbed my brand new driver, the grip was missing. The club was a foot too short and there was no way to hold onto it. There was a line into the pro shop, so I couldn’t get it fixed.
Jack and I waited for our tee time for three hours. Finally, Jack said, “I’m out of here.” FYI, he was really a kind guy and I had fun talking with him 😊
I tried to convince him to stay, but no luck. Then I woke up.
I told my husband about my dream and he said, “That’s a stress dream.”
It it was, it sure was a weird one. I have more common stress dreams. One dream is I signed up for a class in high school or college and forgot about it until finals. I have to take the test without ever going to class or studying.
Other dreams are I’m at a beach up on a hill and a giant wave crashes down on me. Or, I’m being chased by bad guys.
From PsychCentral:
What are stress dreams?
Stress dreams are distressingTrusted Source or anxiety-provoking dreams or nightmares that occur during your REM cycle, which is the stage of sleep when scientists think most dreaming occurs. They can be particularly vivid or recurrent.
While everyone’s dreams can be different, there are a few common types of stress dreams.
“Stress dreams happen to everyone, and, while they can be troubling, they’re not unusual,” explains Dr. Cynthia Briggs, a licensed clinical mental health counselor from Maryland.
What causes stress dreams?
Well, as the name implies, psychological stress is often behind this kind of dream.
After all, stress dreams are particularly common when you’re feeling anxious, stressed, or under pressure during your day-to-day life.
“Our brains are deeply imaginative and creative, and stress dreams are one way our minds process worries overnight,” she continues. “They are the leftover odds and ends we haven’t quite resolved during the daytime.”
Do you experience stress dreams?
Do you have recurring stress dreams? What are they?
We learnt somthing new here. Thankyou for this post
You’re welcome!
My unfaves are the ones where I show up naked in the classroom or unprepared for a test that I didn’t know was going to happen. Yikes!
Thankfully, I’ve never had the naked dream, although I read it’s very common. I’ve had the classroom one over and over. Ugh!
I had a terrible job as a young adult. I was a food server and there were timers on the tables and the establishment promised lunches would be served in 15 minutes. If they weren’t, we servers had to pay for them out of our paycheck. I still have nightmares about those timers being on 14 minutes and trying to hurry with plates of food. My real stress dreams show those timers already at 45 minutes and nobody even told me that was my table! I don’t think I would’ve taken that job if I knew it would represent my stress for the rest of my life!
That is awful to have to pay for meals if they weren’t out within 15 minutes. So stressful! I was a food server in college and I have dreams of tables getting filled constantly and I can’t get to them.
It’s a high stress job, for sure! Maybe this is coming up today to remind me to have extra kindness and grace for the servers I encounter. Great reminder!
Yes, I have so much empathy for food servers having done it myself.
I rarely remember my dreams. Only a few linger if I wake up just after and then they fade quickly anyway. I can’t imagine that I don’t have, or had stress dreams during horrid times in my life but I suppose my brain is doing me a favor in not allowing me to remember them 😉
Forgot to mention that it’s too bad Jack couldn’t stick out the wait on tee times with you. Apparently his elite status won out… 🙂
Ha! It was such a fun dream, but disappointing he left.
You are lucky! Some people don’t remember dreams. Most often I don’t, but the Jack Nicklaus one stuck with me. Usually if I’m having a really stressful dream, I wake up and am so relieved!
I sometimes dream that I’m late for an appointment and lost. So, I start to run and realize that I shouldn’t be able to run with my arthritic left hip, so I figure out that I must be dreaming, and I wake up.
That’s funny! Sometimes real life enters into our dreams and wakes us up.
Do I have stress dreams? Oh, yah! Typically travel related or getting lost…and I’ve done the spelunking to understand their meaning. Here’s to a calm night’s sleep in your very near future, Elizabeth. 😉
Last week I had two sets of guests plus a wildfire, so there was that! At least Jack Nicklaus was a nice guy to hang out with in my stress dream 😊
Oh!!! I forgot to add how much I enjoyed Jack’s appearance in your dream! 🥰🤪🥰
I did too 😉
I haven’t had a stress dream for awhile, but my most common one is wandering around a mall, stadium, parking garage or other large building desperately seeking a toilet. Either there are none, or they’ve overflowed or are covered in excrement… essentially unusable. Not fun dreams LOL!
Oh my goodness! I’ve had that dream too. Awful 😳
C’mon Jack! Arnold is playing with my friend and he says Arnie is nicer than you! Still didn’t work in keeping him. Ha ha, it’s all on you now EA. My money is on you! For me, they would definitely be a stress dream. The college dream is a horrible one too. Yikes, why didn’t I go to class. 🤣🤣🤣🤣😎
Ha! I wonder how Jack ended in my dreams? I hate that college test dream 😊
It’s so unnerving, such a crummy way to start the day. It was always hard too to juggle a full semester load — the dream for me is always a little too close for comfort to my liking. Ha ha.
😆
I have had stress dreams before and recurrent ones. The main one that stands out to me is driving down the road and going over a huge bridge where the road keeps going up and it looks like I will drive off the edge. Doesn’t matter if I brake I can’t stop the car. Not a fun dream for sure!
That’s an awful one! That’s a fear of mine in real life. I have driving anxiety. That would be the end of me to dream that.
Get a pleasant thought in your head now! Think of the beach. 🥰
Yes! I have a beach vacation coming up in August. Can’t wait.
Woo-Hoo! ❤️
👍🏼
Oh, I loved that you were paired with Jack. And then the trouble started. Yikes!!
I used to have the class final dream as well. These days I’ll have the one where I’m supposed to be picking up my kids and they are in different places and then something happens and I can’t get to them.
Hope all your dreams are pleasant, Elizabeth!
The class final dream went on for years. I haven’t had it for awhile though. Now I enjoyed sharing a dream with Jack in the starring role! Ugh. I don’t like the not being able to get to your kids. That’s super stressful.
I very rarely remember my dreams so I can’t say if I’ve had stress dreams or not.
Some people don’t remember them at all.
I do remember feeling uncomfortable in a dream, especially if my tummy was upset in childhood.
I’ve thought of leaving a notepad by my bed to try and capture the essence of my dreams, but I so quickly forget them upon awakening I think it would be fairly useless. I can tell upon awakening whether or not the dream has been stressful or not, but that’s about it…maybe that’s a good thing.🙂
I have a notebook by my bed, but other than the Jack Nicklaus dream, I have never written them down. It might be a good thing if the dream is really stressful!
I rarely remember dreams, which could be a form of stress itself. Dreams are interesting though
I often wonder what our subconscious self is trying to tell us with our dreams. I recently read a book on lucid dreaming and had my first lucid dream. It was pretty freaky becoming conscious and aware inside a dream. Maybe you could try it too?
I’ve heard about lucid dreaming, but don’t know much about it.