Recurring dream is stressing me out!!!

[Gena]

Hello folks. I am a new face here and stumbled across this site from an online search. Nice to be here, thanks for having this available.

I am unsure of the best way to go about knowing enough of a situation to be able to help me, so perhaps a little background?

I am a 31 y/o married mother, IT professional. Great husband, great (if a bit mouthy) son, normal life. No big dramas for me over my marriage, finances, cars, work, church, etc. Pretty stable and comfortable life.

So...here is my problem. For the past 2 months or so, I have been having these recurring dreams. The dreams happen 3-4 times a week, every week, and last all night long, as far as I can tell. I can definitely see a degradation in myself from not sleeping well enough. I am tired, cranky, dark circles, etc. Sleeping pills eliminate the dreams AND make me a zombie the next day, so it's a double-edged sword.

The dreams go like this. The basic premise is that I have a destination to reach, and a difficult path to go through to get there. The end of the path is not fun, will explain that later.

The paths I travel are always different, and always difficult. Sometimes the difficulty in getting there is physically hard (like climbing a steep hill or navigating obstacles in the path). Sometimes it is emotionally difficult (people along the road begging me to stop and help them instead of going). Sometimes, it is scary/frightenting (having to walk through roaches, which I am terrified of or something seems to be "after me"). Sometimes, the path is just dumb and annoying (like once, I had to navigate through this warehouse with icky spiderwebs and dust and crap everywhere). Regardless of what path the dream chooses, it is always difficult, but I always manage to get there. If I wasn't so TIRED, I might actually be kinda amused at how creative my mind appears to be, to come up with all this mess.

Now then... The destination is the part that sucks the most. Once I make it through the path, I arrive in a large circular room. Sitting around a raised platform, all around me, are the ... well, I am not sure of the right word for these people. My mind tends to call them "The Council", don't know why. They seem older than me, but more like an "Elder" than an older person, if that makes sense. They are all in black robes, and have a sense of power about them. I do not know any of them. None of them are easily defined into male/female, black/white/brown, or any other identifying thing. They are just... The Council.

So, I get here, and they spend the rest of the night chewing my butt up! I can never get a clear sense of what I did, or am doing, wrong. They scream and rant and yell and all I do is sit there, shamed and silent. I know this is a form of punishment, but I have no idea what I am doing wrong! I can never speak back and they never clarify what I did, or should do instead, or anything. Just a constant barrage of "BAD GIRL!"

I have tried to consider the things in my life that my subconcious mind might be chewing over that I am dismissing. But, truly, there just isn't anything wrong. My life is normal, and nice and I am happy with it. Some things could be better, of course. More money, a smaller butt, less bills, more family time, a bigger house... All the normal things everyone wants. Nothing outstanding, nothing huge to dwell on or stress about.

If this was a once in a while thing, I would be interested and want to sit back and try to interpret this. But, I am just tired. It is affecting my life, in and out of bed, and I am so very over it. I have meditated, hoping for an answer. I have prayed, in my clumsy way, for an answer. I don't know what it means but I am tottering on the brink of a breakdown over these damned dreams. I think I am going to be speaking to a doctor about this soon.

I welcome any advice, thoughts, or suggestions anyone can offer.

All the best,
Gena

[Jennifer]

Hello and welcome to the forum!
All dreams come from our subconscious and we do not just make them up. They usually come from something that we are thinking about before we go to bed.

That is great that your life is wonderful and you have a great mouthy husband . The thing of the dream is you are trying to get somewhere and you have trouble getting there.

Do you see yourself in your dream or do you dream outwards? Are there people that you know in your dreams or random people?

Dreams do not last all night, they are max 5 minutes and it sounds like the sleeping pills are not doing it either. Have you tried something lighter like melatonia.

Do you have a ritual before you go to bed to transition between daytime and nighttime?

I do apprecitate your post and this is something that not many people like to think about. I do not think there is anything wrong with your life, just that you are unsure about your future and how you will get there.

Are you a goal oriented person? Do you set short term and long term goals for yourself?

[Gena]

Thanks for your reply.

[Jennifer]

No more PM for you. That stuff can really knock you out. Melatonia is over the counter as well, and it is more relaxing than anything. Try to think of a nighttime routine so you can transition from day to night, whether it is reading, crossword puzzles etc.

Sounds like you are goal oriented if you are taking online classess, maybe you are more oriented than you think that you are.

Maybe start journaling durning the day or even before you go to bed and that might help you gain some perspective on this.

[Gena]

I wish I could figure out what all this means. Someone is trying to tell me something...be it myself or something outside of me. But I am NOT getting it, at all.

My husband and I usually play an online game together between the dinner/baths/baby-to-bed time and our bedtime. So, we kinda unwind that way. I am not using Tylenol PM now, or anything else at the moment. I seem to have a low tolerance for meds, so I usually just avoid them.

This is just driving me crazy. I am not sleeping well, my "edge" is not there anymore, my sense of humor, outgoing attitude... everything is slipping because I am so sleepy. I know, technically, I must be getting beneficial rest if I am dreaming, but it really doesn't feel that way when I wake up. I feel drained, slow, completely looped out.

Ugh.

[unclvito]

I have a low tolerance for meds as well but occasionally have difficulty sleeping. So I use melatonin. Cool thing about melatonin is that it is the stuff that the body produces to sleep and it's burned off by light thru the skin. So taking 1mg of melatonin just helps the body do what it does normally and it's gone the next morning as long as you have light. Google it and read for yourself. Oh, and I love that stuff when changing timezones... it fights jetlag very well.

Good luck with the dreaming.