I dream about being back in school all the time. It is one of those dream staples for me along the lines of how every bathroom in any dream of mine has at least a dozen fancy bathtubs in them. I really have no idea if there is any significance to either of these things, but one would think there has to be considering how often they are features of my dreams.
It is almost never college that I have returned to. Sometimes very rarely I am in elementary school, but that is very rare. Mostly I have gone back to high school. There is always a very plausible reason for it in the dream of course. Sometimes I am still actually in high school and sometimes I am 31 and going back to school to take a few classes I had somehow overlooked 13 years ago. How I would have missed classes or why it would matter now, I don't know. Dream me however is always alright with it.
I can never find my locker in the dream. I think this might be because for the most part I never used my locker in high school. When we had to do the quarterly locker checks I would have to be reminded where my locker was and then struggle to recall the combination. Apparently some things never change.
I also can never remember my schedule in the dreams. I am constantly questioning if I should be going to gym or algebra first thing in the morning. I also almost always realize that I have completely forgotten to go to a class for weeks. Usually this class is a science or math class. It always leaves me in a panic.
Also almost all of my dreams feature one of my actual teachers. It is normally Sharp to be honest. On occasion my French teacher has shown up and my 5th grade science teacher has made more than a couple of appearances. Last night it was my speech teacher from high school.
When he showed up in the dream I was certain it wasn't a dream. I was actually at a conference and he was there as well. It was such a shock to see him. He was older, which is expected, but since he was only about 25 when I had him as a teacher it was a little jarring. None the less he hugged me and we chatted about where life had taken me and him in the last decade. It was really pleasant and seemed so real.
Then of course a bell rang and I was late for geometry and couldn't open my locker and then realized there was a tornado bearing down on the school. You know all the typical things that happen to derail a perfectly lovely conversation with an old acquaintance. Well typical for my dreams anyways.
Am I the only one who has dreams like this? Do you have weird constants in your dreams? Are you constantly stuck in school, or in a bathroom with 12 tubs, or on a train, or having tea with Mussolini? I would love to know I am not the only one. I would also love to hear any theories you have about what they could mean. Theories are fun.
I have school dreams like that as well. Sometimes I'm in high school, sometimes I'm in college. I tend to think of them as stress induced dreams, since the things that always happen (jammed locker, missing locker, confused schedules, forgetting classes for weeks at a time) are highly stressful situations. I always wake up in a panic. You're on your own with the bathtubs, though.
ReplyDeleteI have these school dreams every once in a while, especially the whole "I have a final/giant assignment in this class and I haven't gone all year!" They are not pleasant. More often, though, I have the "I am pregnant and can't remember how I got that way" or the "I'm getting married but I've never met the groom before and he has no face." I think those are probably pretty easily parsed for me. Recently, I've been dreaming that, while everything is from my point of view, I'm not me. I'm Olivia Benson from SVU or a character from a book or something. Sister thinks this is because I'm so dissatisfied with being me right now, but I tend to think it's just that I'm VERY imaginative and dramatic. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've mentioned it on my blog before, but I almost always remember my dreams in GREAT detail (like every morning) and have some level off control over the circumstances (like I know I'm dreaming and can change the storyline or do it over again differently). Most people say this is weird.
Yea the bathroom thing has eluded me in meaning for years. Maybe I like baths?
ReplyDeleteMy dreams are always incredibly detailed and normally fairly epic. I have been known to have dreams last for months, picking up each night where they left off. I can't normally control them though since I very rarely realize I am dreaming. When multiple bathtubs show up I normally realize at that point.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think Olivia Benson is a good choice to be in your dreams. She is one tough chick. Maybe your subconscious is trying to give you someone to fight for you.