Dream, Dream, Dream . . .

I dream a lot or at least I remember my dreams quite often.  In general they have been vivid, real to life and I can explain them in detail to others the next day.  In fact there have been times they have seemed so real that I had to remind myself in the morning that my vision was only a dream.  When I was younger, I thought that everyone was the same as me.  After talking to family and friends I have come to realize that everyone dreams differently.  Some have told me that they do not ever remember dreaming, others only occasionally, and then a few tend to be more like me recalling every dream as if they were watching a movie.

Intertwined with all of the dreams that I have had, there have been a few that have reached the status of "recurring dreams."  The first one that I remember revolved around snakes.  In it a snake would come up and bite my hands or feet.  I believe that it occurred most often after I had seen a television show or movie that focused on the reptile.  In college and several years afterward I would dream that I had a final and hadn't been to class all semester.  I assumed that was become I felt unprepared at times during my education.  The strangest recurring dream that I have had revolved around knocking.  I would hear someone knocking so loudly on our front door that it would wake me out of a dead sleep.  I would run to the front door and no one would be there.  I started to ignore the dream when I woke up and it began to change.  I would instead hear someone knocking on my bed frame or bedroom wall.  It was so loud and close to me that I would wake up with a start and have a harder time falling asleep afterward.

My most recent recurring dream recently obviously stems from the pandemic.  In it I am always with a large group of people and no one is wearing a mask.  When this type of dream first began I was always starting a new job.  In the middle of training I would look around and see that no one was wearing a mask.  Shortly afterward, I would realize that I had forgotten to bring one with me.   This dream has changed over the last month.  I am still in a group of non-mask wearers without one myself, but lately everyone around me graduated from high school with me.  I find this recurring dream most interesting as those in my dream aren't people that still live in the area.  I am also a strict mask wearer, so there would be no way I would forget to wear or at least bring a mask with me wherever I go.  This is definitely a dream that makes me panic and I have to remind myself in the morning that it did not happen.  Hopefully, this one will stop once we get vaccinated.  It's hard enough to live in an area where many individuals chose not to wear masks.  I definitely don't need to think about it in my sleep as well.