Recurring dreams after ER ?

[Lsbcal]

Do you have any recurring dreams after ER? Just curious about the responses.

I read an article in the Wall St Journal some time ago about a WSJ reporter who retired and had recurring dreams about work. As I recall the author asked around and found others had recurring dreams too. Seems that the dream did not have to even be quite based on what had really happened to them in the past e.g. your boss is mean to you in the dream although in real life he was a nice guy.

I keep having dreams about being at my old megacorp and wondering around trying to find a group that will take me. In the last one I got put in a group working on defense related products. Well at least I didn't get booted out. In another dream I was wondering around the huge corporate complex which had many buildings. I was worried that if I went out one of the exits I wouldn't know where my car was parked and couldn't get back in the building because I wouldn't have the corporate security card since I was not employed there anymore. Been ER'd about 4 years now.

After I started working many years ago I had recurring dreams for a few decades about college classes -- like not remembering until the midterm that I was suppose to attend that class .

Les

 

[DRiP Guy]

I'm not ER yet, but when I left the Air Force after eight years, I had recurring dreams off and on for a period of years. Sometimes they were very intense. I did not consider my job (technical instructor) to be a particularly stressful one, nor my new one, so it kind of surprised me.

Now that I take some time to consider it, I think it was twofold:

In the service, you get used to the regimentation (as I was trained and as I expected -- I never was late for an appointment, or a class, or an assignment), this was also expected of others in the service.

In civilian life, though, there are higher "normal" levels of uncertainty and also less discipline from others; dates changed with little notice, people were less reliable, appointments often canceled or missed, people forget to follow through with you, etc

I think the combination of what I was experiencing every day (more chaos than the prior eight years) was being compared mentally at night against my ingrained checks and balances (expect order and discipline, not seeing it is a huge warning sign) and that disparity was causing 'anxiety' dreams - missing a formation, or being in the wrong place from my squadron, or driving with brakes not working even though I was pressing with both feet and straining...

One of the worst ones was thinking that I had to find a uniform, get it prepped, shoes shined, and get to some orderly room, records in hand for in-processing, even though I did not know where my uniforms were anymore, or any other details. Cold sweat.

It has been 15 or more years since I had those sorts of dreams, but it would not shock me a bit, now that I think about it, to have some after ER, for similar reasons.

 

[Grep]

Earlier in life I would have the classic "I missed all my classes, forgot to prepare and now I'm late for the final" anxiety-filled dream.

After my Ph.D. I'd occasionally have the "Big Ivy League U called me up and told me I missed a requirement and didn't have a Ph.D. after all" dream.

Now I'm a Professor and I occasionally have the "I forgot to prepare my final for my class" dream.

I suppose when I retire (early?) I'll have the "I forgot a zero / lost an account / now I'm broke" dream.

Cheers.

 

[Nords]

Do you have any recurring dreams after ER?

Submarine nightmares, even though it's been 15 years since my last sea duty and I've been ER'd nearly five years.

But the frequency/intensity is dropping off, and at least I don't bolt upright screaming or shouting orders anymore.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I occasionally have a "work dream" where one of my old bosses gives me the suck project thats due tomorrow and already screwed up and on fire. In other words, exactly what happened most of the time.

Fortunately, 98% of my dreams are uninteresting and benign. I do get a real doozy once in a while, but more entertaining than bad and rarely recurring.

For about 4 months after Gabe was born, I did have an (obviously) extremely bad recurring dream that I fell asleep in bed with him and rolled over and squashed him. That thoroughly screwed up my sleeping for a while. That had more to do with nervous helicopter dad syndrome than ER though.

 

[Shawn]

After I started working many years ago I had recurring dreams for a few decades about college classes -- like not remembering until the midterm that I was suppose to attend that class .

I'm not retired but my recurring college dream is that I forgot to drop a class that I stopped attending.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

part of the art of dreaming involves learning to control first the behavior of your own dream character within the dream and later learning how to play, manipulate and even transmute dream elements themselves. the prior you do in vivid, non-lucid dreams, the latter in lucid dreams, lucidity refering to when your familiar daytime consciousness awakens within the dream itself. (should this happen, you will recognize the difference when your dream becomes less of watching yourself as in a movie and more of being yourself like in a play.)

while you are always the best interpreter of your own dreams, recurring dreams indicate to me difficult or unresolved issues. taking at least some control of your dream character can be as simple as talking to yourself and might help initiate resolution.

depending on the action of your dream character, upon awakening from a reoccurring dream and, also, before sleeping again, give yourself instructions on how you'd prefer your dream character to handle that particular dream situation. as well you can do this in nonrecurring dreams, in types of dreams where you simply weren't satisfied with your dream character's behavior.

for instance, if you keep dreaming of something chasing you and you keep running away and you keep coming back to that dream, tell yourself that when you dream again you will not only not run away, but that you will turn around and face what is chasing you. do not be disappointed if you do not connect on your first try. but if you do this whenever you have a reoccurring dreams, likely they will either subside as if on their own or they will not only subside but also you will send yourself on a new amazing journey within. bon voyage.

 

[lowflyer]

Now that you mention it, yes, I do dream about my old job now and then. Last time was just last week. I can't remember the details, but I do know that it wasn't a good experience! Now if I could just quit dreaming about my old girlfriends!

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Now that you mention it, yes, I do dream about my old job now and then. Last time was just last week. I can't remember the details, but I do know that it wasn't a good experience! Now if I could just quit dreaming about my old girlfriends!

I enjoy dreaming about my old girlfriends. It's the ex-wives
that mess up my slumber.

JG

 

[Khan]

For a while after retirement I would have dreams that I was in some horrible situation at work, then in the dream I would realize I was retired and therefore could not be at work. I would wake up, stretch, roll over and go back to sleep.

I also used to have (before retirement) those "final exam and never been to class and can't even find the classroom" dreams, and the "can't find the car anywhere" dreams, and the "walking around naked" dreams, and the "I know something horrible will be coming over the hill in a short time but no one will listen to me" dreams, and the "the office has been moved and no one will tell me where" .

All tapered off and its been a while now since having any of the above.

I hadn't thought about it much until you mentioned it.

 

[Dreamer]

I used to have bad dreams when I was working. Also, I would wake up in the middle of the night, and think of something that I had not done on a claim at work. I have been sleeping peacefully since retirement!

 

[sallie4th]

I enjoy dreaming about my old girlfriends. It's the ex-wives
that mess up my slumber.

JG

And yet.....WE sleep just fine!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

So [moderator edit]..when dreaming about the old girlfriends...was their a lot of "baaaaa"ing or did you gag them first?

 

[donheff]

part of the art of dreaming involves learning to control first the behavior of your own dream character within the dream and later learning how to play, manipulate and even transmute dream elements themselves.

LGFN - you are mixing your XBox up with your dreams. Retired too long?

 

[Donzo]

I started a thread about this a few weeks ago - I had dreams that I had been lured back to work somehow and would wake up in a start when it sunk in what I had gotten myself into.
Maybe starting a thread is theraputic...I have not had one of those work dreams since that thread!

 

[2B]

So [moderator edit]..when dreaming about the old girlfriends...was their a lot of "baaaaa"ing or did you gag them first?

CFB,

This is not like the old you. Why make repeated personal attacks?

I will remember it just in case my brother starts bragging about his girlfriends.

 

[bssc]

In my case, I suspect that dreaming about work is symbolic of the part of myself that gets its identity from work. As people note, some people have a hard time retiring because they don't really know who they are outside of work.

I still have dreams about being back in college even though I graduated 26 years ago but they are more along the lines of going to classes and even getting close to graduating than missing class.

As for work, I have more dreams about the failed internet companies I work for than my current job with Megacorp. I think that this reflects my fear of not making my dreams.

Synchronistically, one of my dreams this morning was me trying to find my military ID to get onto a US base. IRL, I always had an Embassy dependent ID so I was looking for something, a self image perhaps, that I didn't have.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

LGFN - you are mixing your XBox up with your dreams. Retired too long?

seems that way, but technology and much of western science for that matter is just starting to catch on & up to knowledge that has been out there for 1000s of years if not since forever. you can develop dream control or be born with it and learn to further develop it. it was very odd as a child when i couldn't tell the difference between being asleep and being awake. i suspect this happens to a lot of kids who later suppress what they do not understand, what is neither taught nor even discussed here, and what our society neither encourages nor even condones.

at that time i used to have lucid dreams involving people i know in waking life. then while my body was awake, if i'd confront them about some issue that played out during the dream, they'd deny they ever did something or said something which i was certain they had but turns out it had only happened in the dream. i was just a child and because i did not know the difference between lucid dreaming and lucid waking, i learned to love those who i did not quite trust. it was a curious childhood and likely more engaging than any xbox.

 

[Lsbcal]

Interesting comments so far on people's ER dreams. Donzo, didn't know there was another thread like this. Do you have the date or a link to find it? I had looked up the keyword "dreams" before starting this thread.

LGFN, good comments on how to deal with and manipulate your dreams. For me the dreams are not that disturbing and so I don't want to perturb the experience. Just want to observe and understand what my inner self is telling me. My wife had disturbing dreams some years ago and did work on manipulating them with success -- better then paying a psychologist.

In my case I think my dreams indicate how much inner strength I drew from the institution of megacorp that I belonged too. I'm gradually replacing that with other more fulfilling activities in ER. I doubt that I'll have to worry about bad ER dreams after the transition that follows ER !

Les

 

[Dog]

Submarine nightmares, even though it's been 15 years since my last sea duty and I've been ER'd nearly five years.

But the frequency/intensity is dropping off, and at least I don't bolt upright screaming or shouting orders anymore.

Hi Nords,

My dad retired from the Navy and spent time on subs in the 50's (I remember the Cobbler). Anyway, you may want to tune into the History channel this afternoon for this special - I'm planning to watch it.

SUNDAY JANUARY 28TH (8PM) on the History channel

8-10 PM

Blind Man's Bluff
In a 2-hour special, based on the bestseller by Christopher Drew and Sherry Sontag, we document the stories of the brave men who dedicated their lives to stalking the world's oceans during the Cold War. Submarines were the super-secret frontline of the Cold War and played an undersea game of hide and seek with the fate of the world as stakes. For the first time on TV, U.S. and Russian submariners share their stories and harrowing experiences.

 

[Nords]

Anyway, you may want to tune into the History channel this afternoon for this special - I'm planning to watch it.

Thanks, Dog, I have the book on my shelf but I haven't seen the video yet. Apparently my Oahu cable subscription doesn't show the full History Channel lineup either-- it's not listed. I'll keep an eye out for it!

Those two are apparently good at interviews. They managed to get several dozen submariners to talk for an article in a Chicago newspaper that they later expanded to the book. When I was assigned to SUBPAC staff, we had to sign specific agreements to not only not speak to them, but to alert NCIS as soon as we were contacted by them. Some staff members were even subject to polygraph questions on the subject.

Apparently they were very good at putting submariners at ease, getting us talking, priming the pump with safe familiar sea stories, popping a surprise question, and interpreting the answer from the looks on our faces... J.D. Von Suskil ("Darth Vader") was our Chief of Staff at the time, and he had no humor for or appreciation of the way they got his "contribution" to the book.

 

[Sandy]

I'm still working but also have had the "forgot to go to class and now it's finals time and I don't even know where the classroom is." dream,

If you put any stock in dream interpretation (a good parlor game at least) FWIW:

dreams of classrooms indicate you are ready to learn something;

dreams of a j*b indicate you are either frustrated or satisfied and are working on fullfillment;

dreams of being lost or missing something indicate that you are lacking confidence somewhere in your life.

Happy interpreting!