Do Work Nightmares Ever End?

[Dalmore]

My last college nightmare was about my not being ready for a final exam..........BUT I had already dropped the class months earlier!

I have that exact one all the time!

 

[easysurfer]

I still have occasion dreams about school as well as w*rk. Similar in nature I guess as in the school dreams I'm several credits short or finals as arrived and either I haven't attended classes or haven't studied.

I used to have a lot of w*rk dreams. The frequency has subsided. Mainly that I'm still w*rking, helping out but not getting paid and not filling out my timesheet, then eventually I realize in the nightmare that I'm done.

 

[Alan]

Same here, except that now, I do often take a brief nap in the late afternoon. Never napped until after retirement.

I hope to be a napper when I grow up

My family used to be amazed at how I could and would fall asleep just about anywhere. Whenever we flew anywhere on vacation the kids would want to sit next to mom because they knew dad would nod off before the plane even left the ground.

Just showed how sleep derived I actually was when working.

 

[Gumby]

I was sleep deprived for the better part of 42 years. One of the best parts of retirement has been the ability to sleep until I'm done and awake feeling rested.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I still occasionally have college dreams. The ones where I have missed a bunch of classes and can't find the room where the final exams are scheduled. Always very disturbing.

Typical college nightmares are that semester finals are almost here and I haven't attended most classes and now I am scrambling to figure out which books to study, on exam day

The college one that's related is that I know it's a certain day of the week, and I know I have classes, but don't have a copy of my schedule, so don't know where the class meets.

I am a college professor. I may have shared this story before. I often share it with my students.

When I was a student, I used to get dreams where I knew I had to take a exam, but I did not study for it, and I don't know what building it is in, and I can't find my calculator, and once I find the building, I can't find the room, so I go into the wrong room, etc., etc.

Now that I am a professor, I have dreams that I know I have to GIVE an exam, and I have not MADE UP the exam, and then I have made up the exam, but I cannot find the photocopier to make copies, and then I cannot find the room, and then the students aren't in the room, etc.

Sigh. Looks about the same on both sides of the desk!

 

[audreyh1]

I don’t seem to dream that much anymore, and very rarely remember a dream.

DH has elaborate dreams and can recount them in detail.

I can also tell when he’s riding a bicycle or running in his dream or having to kick at something, because his feet move. Just a light touch on his arm stops it. And then he’ll often awaken and I’ll get the whole story!

 

[RobbieB]

I don't nap. Not even as a child. Never have and never will. Have insomnia. Need to avoid coffee after noon and go to bed late ~ 12 to 1. Wake up at 8.

 

[MRG]

I don't nap. Not even as a child. Never have and never will. Have insomnia. Need to avoid coffee after noon and go to bed late ~ 12 to 1. Wake up at 8.

+1

If I nap even I don't want to be around myself. Used to have insomnia but not longer since I retired. I seldom remember my dreams anymore and never minded work dreams not at all. I saw bugs in code and found solutions to problems in my dreams.

 

[Out of Steam]

Any work dreams I've had since retiring have been pretty neutral. The one I remember is going into a bar and finding a work colleague as the bartender.

 

[rk911]

I don't nap. Not even as a child. Never have and never will. Have insomnia. Need to avoid coffee after noon and go to bed late ~ 12 to 1. Wake up at 8.

for me naps are one of the joys of retirement.

 

[Redbugdave]

I was sleep deprived for the better part of 42 years. One of the best parts of retirement has been the ability to sleep until I'm done and awake feeling rested.

Same here Gumby. I worked rotating shifts most of my career. Funny how life has taken a new depth and intensity after becoming normal.

 

[Koolau]

I've had many more nightmares about University than w*rk. Maybe because the consequences could be so dire. In the late 60's, if you flunked out or quit, you were virtually assured of 1A draft status which meant a McNamara Fellowship to Scenic SE Asia. YMMV

 

[Winemaker]

I w*rked 35 years in various underground coal mines in the US; from 22' to 6' seams. I'm 6'5", and vary rarely was I in any area where I couldn't stand up straight. There were times when as a mine manager, I had to examine areas where I had to crawl a short distance, but I never, ever suffered any claustrophobia, felt unsafe, or feared for my life.

Sometimes, I have a nightmare, where I am crawling in an 18" or less area underground, with no mining gear on, and fear for my life, although I never experienced that while I was w*rking. Perhaps it's a fear of my eventual death, and laying in a padded pine box.

 

[Dalmore]

I used to be in the *never* nap category because I always woke up with a headache and feeling worse than before I took the nap. Once I started working from home, however, those post-lunch sleepies would hit and it was either lay down in the bed or bang my head into my keyboard. So I started taking a quick nap. Set my phone for 30min. Laydown for a quick nap. Wake up refreshed for the rest of the afternoon. No headaches.

 

[Dalmore]

Since retiring, DW and I find that we are ready to go to bed between 8:30 and 9:00pm. Just don't feel the need to stay up any longer as we have had the entire day together instead of 2-3 hrs between getting home and having to go to bed. We do still get up around 5am because of the fur-babies....

 

[Out of Steam]

Same here Gumby. I worked rotating shifts most of my career. Funny how life has taken a new depth and intensity after becoming normal.

I feel fortunate that I worked the last midnight shift of my career right around my 40th birthday, and even those were infrequent.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

These dreams plagued me for years until around age 50. There I was, facing an exam, never having attended class, wondering how the heck I was going to study for an entire semester in the next 10 minutes.

Suddenly, I realized, "Hey! You're 50 years old, you have a good job and a Master's degree. You don't need this stupid class!" and promptly walked out. Never had that dream again.

I have students that live that dream out in real life.

Usually it is trying to make up a bunch of work at the end of the term, or missing a take home final exam drop-dead due date after me announcing it several times, or ...

The good news (for me) is as I'm the one giving the grades, I don't have dreams about it.

I do still occasionally have mega-corp work nightmares/dreams. In my last 10 years, I was doing a TON of travel. In my dream/nightmare, I usually am in some city having paid for hotels, travel, etc. and I realize I'm not employed and now I've paid all this money I won't be reimbursed for. Just recently I had one where I was at a conference for a design group I was in 25 years ago - again I'm there and can't get in because well, I'm no longer employed by them. Always good to wake up from it and realize "who cares"

 

[Lucie]

Over 30 plus years later, I still have recurring dreams 4-5x/ year that my Doctoral Dissertation is due in a month and I hadn’t started it. I’ve had some very stressful times in my practice, but rarely dream of work, just the dissertation. It’s funny how you can’t shake certain things, even though they were never reality in the first place.

 

[MarieIG]

I still occasionally have college dreams. The ones where I have missed a bunch of classes and can't find the room where the final exams are scheduled. Always very disturbing.

Yes, THIS, what IS it about those college nightmares!

 

[Kroeran]

My office dreams seem to be about lightly stressful scenarios of finding my office, getting lost in a building, situations with no solution that I am relieved to be waking up from.

Or job seeking or contracts ending and it’s not going well

Also, still college stress dreams, lack of prep for an exam or whatever

All situations that I never actually had to deal with in real life

Maybe just enjoy the relief of being able to wake up and walk away

 

[Nick12]

When I was working I lived in time and frequently thought always about work. Now I live in moments which defines me and the ones I love.

 

[Koolau]

Yes, THIS, what IS it about those college nightmares!

It is also strange that - with few exceptions - I still recall what was happening and what classes I was taking during my university days MUCH more vividly than the things that happened at Megacorp. I remember specific university ball games, social events, rallies, the dates, where I was, where I was sitting, etc. If I have a Megacorp memory (new project, new "program", etc.) it might be within 5 years of when it happened. University was a much more vivid experience in so many ways. It certainly had its challenges and tragedies, but I felt more alive then than during my long years at Megacorp. That MUST be why the dreams of university are more vivid and more frequent. If I were forced to either go back to university or Megacorp, I'd pick university in a second but YMMV.

 

[RetireeRobert]

It’s rare, but I still have dreams a couple times a year where I’m still in a horrific crisis at work. After almost 10 years, I’d think that would’ve ended by now. Again, it’s rare, but still

"Do work nightmares ever end?"

Yes.

 

[Sarpy]

Retired 8 years and I still dream about w*rk. I used to travel quite a bit for the job and most of my dreams are about rushing to airports, looking for gates, missing planes, desperately trying to get home, finding rental cars, losing my way in strange cities, etc. Most of them are nightmares.

I didn't want to travel for about two years after I retired.

 

[Dawg52]

Fourteen years of retirement in the books and I still dream of my workdays. Specifically about preparing for year end audits for my old company. Fortunately I always wake up and realize it's just a bad dream. Why can't I dream of a nice walk on the beach while I admire the scenery?