Since I quit smoking, I’ve been experiencing this recurring dream where I smoke a cigarette without paying any attention to my actions until it is too late.
The other anxiety dream I experience is a common one for servers; where I am working alone and the restaurant fills up instantly. Eight groups of people come in, all at once, and I can’t do anything about it because I’m stuck dealing with some old man with too many questions and not enough menu-reading.
And might I add that this happens to me in real life every single weekend, the only difference being that in real life, I am capable of muscling my way through it. And there’s a cook, too.
What these dreams have in common is that they both are dealing with my feelings of control, or lack thereof. The smoking dream is about a lack of self control (and of self awareness, I presume), and the serving dream is about being unable to control my surroundings.
What I’d really like is to take that next evolutionary mental step, where I’m able to just let go of my expectations and adapt more easily to whatever is going on in my life. I think that would kill most of these anxiety dreams.
1 response so far ↓
Ryan Oakley // June 2, 2009 at 3:21 pm
I used to get a similar one about drinking. I’d be all pissed to high heaven and causing mischief and then I’d wake up. Always felt relieved it was just a dream.