Recurring dreams are those that we experience repeatedly over a long period. According to Google, most people have recurring dreams. Do you?
I do, although they’re far less frequent now that I’m an old fart than they were when I was younger fart. I’ve experienced three different recurring dreams throughout my life.
Recurring Dream #1 – The Final Exam
It takes place when I was in college, which I’ve been out of for decades. But even today I occasionally have a dream about being ill-prepared for a final exam. It generally goes like this.
Today is the day of a final exam for one of my courses. I had cut most of the classes for this course and hadn’t done any of the required reading. It had been so long since I last attended class that I couldn’t remember the location of the classroom.
I finally arrive at the room where the class was scheduled to meet, but no one is there. I find out that the exam has moved to a different location, but I don’t know where.
I am in a state of panic because I need a passing grade in this particular course in order to graduate, but not only am I totally unprepared to take the final exam, I don’t even know where it is being given.
I wake up from the dream never having found the exam room or taken the exam, but knowing that the outcome was an epic failure. I am drenched in sweat because of the dream, but as consciousness slowly sets in, I feel an enormous sense of relief that it was just a dream.
Recurring Dream #2 – The Naked Truth
This next recurring dream starts out when I leave my house in the morning heading to the office. I’m stark naked. At first it seems completely natural and I’m not at all self-conscious about having nothing on.
But at some point in the dream, as I interact with others, I become painfully aware that I am naked. It’s an “oh shit, what the hell was I thinking?” moment. I spend the rest of the dream completely mortified, trying to figure out how to cover up my nakedness or to flee the scene entirely with some shred of dignity intact.
As with the dream about the final exam, when I wake up, I am so relieved to find out that I was only dreaming.
Recurring Dream #3 –I’m flying
In this recurring dream, I can fly. I start walking, lift my arms toward the sky, and suddenly I’m heading up, floating above the ground, rising above the trees, looking down at the landscape below. It’s exhilarating to be free from the tethers that bind me to the earth below.
I have no idea how I gained this incredible ability to fly, and while I’m up there savoring the experience, I am occasionally troubled by what might happen if this amazing gift of flight were to leave as suddenly and mysteriously as it appeared. But it never does, and, when I wake up, I am saddened that it was but a dream.
Okay. I’ve shared with you my three types of recurring dreams. Now it’s your turn.
Tell Dr. Fandango all about your recurring dreams.
This, That, and the Other 
I have had similar reoccurring dreams to the flying one and the naked one too! And I also have one about falling from nothing into nothing but just the sensation of falling!
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That last dream sounds very nihilistic.
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You’ve got my nightmare — yes, recurring — if you combine numbers 1 and 2. I finally think I’ve found the exam room, even though I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with the test … AND I’m naked.
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That truly is a recurring nightmare!
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Yes, it is. I graduated in 1967. You’d think I’d be done with this one by now.
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It’s with us for life, I guess.
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I have a reoccurring dream that I’m stuck at my dad’s house and for whatever reason I can’t leave. It’s usually because I can’t find all of my things, or I’m still packing, or someone there is telling me I can’t go. Always I really want to go but I’m trapped. #askmeaboutmydaddyissues
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I take it that you really don’t want to be stuck at your dad’s house. So you must be relieved when you wake up and realize it was only a dream.
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I’ll dream I’m at work, nothing atypical, just work but when I wake up, I feel as though I had already put in a days work. Not the feeling you want in the morning, knowing you’re about to put in for a double shift.
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Waking up exhausted is never a good thing.
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The dream that won’t go away, that starts out wonderful and becomes a nightmare: walking home from work, going through the park, and then down the street where all the trees are large enough that they cover the sky above. It is always dark walking down that street. A sense of someone watching. A dark thing falls from a branch. A leaf? No, a spider. Move out of the way. But another drops in front; spin around – there are many more behind. Turn back – thousands of spiders hanging in the air, waiting to …
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Yikes. That’s a real nightmare. I hate spiders.
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I do have dreams #1 and #3 as well. And instead of naked, I constantly find myself without shoes!!
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Being without shoes, too some, is like being naked, I guess.
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Those recurring dreams are messages from your subconscious trying to tell you something. Until you figure out what they are trying to say, they’ll keep happening. Jung and his followers have some theories about them, and those “types” in particular. Let me know and I’ll pull out my notes and give you the (brief) gist.
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I’m always up for a “brief gist.”
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I had no idea that you are a Doctor. I used to have dreams when I was in college that I was not sure what class I was supposed to be in and I couldn’t find my schedule, so I would skip out and go to the bar. Some times my dreams would start in the parking lot with me waiting for a spot to open up and it never did, so I would head over to the bar for a drink again. I guess that I just didn’t like school all that much.
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A doctor of dreamology.
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I have a few recurring dreams. Most of them mean I am super stressed out and not talking about it!
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Oh, pretty please tell!
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Oh, that was written poorly. I meant that I don’t talk about my stress so I then have the recurring nightmares. They aren’t very interesting. I have one where I am waitressing at this one restaurant and there is always so problem….Nothing amusing.
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Those are interesting dreams. Did you ever ask a professional to get those interpreted for you? I mean, dream doctors have their own dream doctors right?!
My recurring dream was based on a crazy Filipino guerrilla movie I’ve seen in the late 80’s. I don’t know why mom had allowed for me to watch that. The movie is called Sparrow Unit.
In my dream, my mom and I had to ride a cable car to escape the ‘sparrow unit’ and the dream will just be a long chase as mom and I hide from them…
I still dream about this… and living in Saudi Arabia, where missile attack is a quarterly thing doesn’t help getting relieved from this dream.
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No, I’ve never gone to anyone for a professional interpretation of my recurring dreams. Your Dream does sound scary.
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