This week, my week is kind of already off to a weird start. Since last week I have been having very random, all too real dreams, that keep waking me up every morning terrified about what exactly is fact in my reality. I’ve had nightmares before, pero estas pesadillas are like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. There have been mornings when I don’t even want to open my eyes because I’m afraid the awful things I’ve been dreaming are actually true. Hoy, por ejemplo, after waking up from one such experience I was so distraught my heart was pounding and I was almost at the point of tears. After realizing it was “just a dream” I took what I thought was my shaver into the restroom with me and began to rub shaving cream all over my face. When I went to shave I realized what I actually brought into the restroom was the case for my glasses.
That woke me up! ¡Qué burradas!
Now don’t go getting all worried about me. In truth, I think it’s the patch I’ve been wearing for the past eight days. You see, after years of being a regular smoker I’ve finally made the decision to quit. I am doing so by wearing the patch, and while things have been going pretty smoothly otherwise – the cravings have diminished significantly – the nightmares are now starting to freak me out. I should also note that the box clearly says you should not wear the patch overnight if you notice it is disruptive to your sleep. Until now, like in so many other aspects in my life, my reaction has been pretty much “ah… I can handle it.” I’m not so sure anymore.
I think after tonight I’ll be removing the patch every night!
Yet, my question is not necessarily about the chemicals that are causing me to have these nightmares, but about what exactly dreams are meant to be interpreted as? I’ve heard that if you don’t want a nightmare to come true you should vocalize it by telling someone about it out loud. I guess in some way, you telling someone what you dreamt is supposed to cancel out the nightmare and prevent it from coming true. I won’t repeat my nightmares because I don’t want to, but I am considering this my way of vocalizing all of those nightmares.
But tell me, what do you think about dreams and nightmares and what they mean?
3 thoughts on “What Do One’s Nightmares Really Mean?”
Hola hermano. Sounds like the dreams are super intense to begin with and the patch is affecting them. As both a therapist and a crazy dreamer (since childhood), dreams are very scary. Dreams can mean many things – they are the brain’s way of processing all of the information received while awake; dreams are also representations of things that are currently happening to us (good or bad); finally, dreams can simply be reactions to drugs (legal or not) and alcohol.
As a child, I dreamt often of being chased by monsters and would often wake up screaming or crying. It happened several times a week and had to do with my chaotic family life (parents fighting, alcoholic father). As I’ve gotten older and life has calmed down, my nightmares have decreased immensely. I rarely have more than one a month now. I do have good dreams and have crazy (not scary) dreams sometimes after a bit much to drink. lol Anyway, if you have any other questions about dreams, let me know. 🙂 PS – Congrats on quitting smoking! Yay!!!!
Dreams are crazy. I once dreamt that my husband cheated on me with a robot. I also dream/nightmare about my son being kidnapped (it happened more often a week before we left for a visit to Monterrey, and a week after we came back). Dreams and nightmares really do reflect what’s happening in our awake states. As for my husband cheating on me with a robot, that happened when he bought an XBOX. I like to think of it as our brain’s way of overreacting and just getting that overwhelming feeling out of the way. I agree very much with Heiddi’s comment. Funny how our minds work, no? Congrats on the decision to quit smoking, my Dad quit after my brother was born and the energy he got after quitting was his motivator to stay away from the cigarettes. ¡Si se puede!
I agree with Trina’s analysis! But my favorite part of this post was hearing you are quitting smoking! Congratulations! I wish you a strong will & good health. 🙂