Sunday, July 05, 2020

Anxiety Dreams


I had that dream again -- it's always a different dream, but the basic conceit is the same. I need to get somewhere, urgently, but when I open a door to get there, there's another door behind the door (like in that cartoon) and another behind that one, and so on.

Or I'm climbing stairs, except they keep running out before I reach the place I'm trying to get to.

Or (last night) I have to take elevators, but they won't stop on my floor; or they don't go to the floor I need to reach; or the elevator doors open, but there's no elevator, or it's stalled halfway between floors. Or I finally reach the right floor, but the person who needs to sign off on my paperwork is gone, and no one know when he'll be back.

I mean, the symbolism is obvious; but they're still stressful dreams.

3 comments:

Bardiac said...

That sounds so unpleasant. /comfort

delagar said...


It really is. Even after I wake up and KNOW it was a dream, I'm still anxious.

Bev said...

I hear you. Last night I had my first fall-semester teaching anxiety dream involving failures of social distancing, inability to be heard behind my plexiglass shield, and tech problems in a way-too-full classroom. This is way too early to be experiencing that kind of anxiety.