There should be a word for it.
That feeling you get when you can’t shake a dream.
When the world gets a little more blurry and the blowing willow tree seeds look just like snowflakes dancing in the breeze.
But, they can’t be snowflakes because the sun is shining and it’s too hot outside.
And you couldn’t have been chased by men with knives, been betrayed by your friend or broken anyone out of prison.
But it does look like it’s snowing, and the feelings are there.
The terror of the night, the hurt and anger live on.
They are real in your mind.
It was all real in your mind.
Even now, when the sun is shining and the snow is falling, the feelings cling.
And it might be real- after all it’s snowing.
But it can’t be snowing, because the sun is shining and it’s too hot outside.
I wrote this right after I discovered that I’m not the only person who has overly vivid dreams and then has a terrible time moving on from them once morning comes. It can be confusing for me and frustrating to family members who have angered me in my sleep that I’m still mad at them when morning and reality come.
Do you have dreams that stick with you longer than you wish they would?
Behind the Willows 
I don’t really have that problem of remembering dreams. Do you keep a dream journal? Also this reminds me of an I Love Lucy episode, where Lucy dreams Ricky ran off with another girl leaving her and Little Ricky on the streets. She wakes up and starts hitting him with a pillow, 😆
Well I’m not sure I’ve ever just started hitting John with anything- but it’s been close! 😀
And no I don’t keep a dream journal I’m bad at, well, *everything* in the morning. Adding another thing to do upon waking up isn’t going to happen in this life time!
Just curious about the journal. I think it is supposed to help in cases like yours, but I am not sure. But yes, I understand the morning thing!
Most dreams do. Yes.
I wonder why that happens with some of us and other hardly remember anything? It’s such a strange thing.
My husband often has terrible dreams that I’ve run off to the pub and left him in the lurch and wakes up all hurt and insecure! Gee whiz, my dream self is such a meanie!
But yeah, it’s hard to get over it when someone dies on a dream, or does something awful…the feelings stay, and it takes awhile to get over them.
John has taken to telling me I should be mad at myself since I was the one who made it all up but it just doesn’t really work out that way. Poor guy. And people dying dreams are the worst, I always end up calling people up out of the blue to make sure they are still ok.
Yeah, that’s rough. Then it’s such a relief to wake up but you still wonder. I can totally understand calling.
We used to have a cat and if she’d sleep on James’ legs he’d have nightmares about being tied up and kidnapped or other awful things! Lots of his dreams would make great suspense action films…
And then there’s the dreams where you’re at an amazing banquet…and loading your desert plate with delicacies, but wake up before you get to eat them! 😟
Oh no! I think I’d have had to start locking the cat out! 🙂
Yeah! Made for too many imaginary adventures at night!
And bad ones at that! I don’t usually find that things like that affect my dreams but what I’m reading (or watching) sure does!
Funny you say that, I was going to ask, what crazy detective murder mystery have you been reading lately! Maybe time for something soothing for a few nights! I love re-reading Little Women or Anne of Green Gables when I need the world to feel calm and safe.
I know, I know! I but I like them and sometimes I just have to read one anyway! The other night I read some of the more obscure Beatrix Potter books I had on my kindle for the kids before I fell asleep. 🙂
Fun! Well, best wishes for sweet dreams tonight! 💁
You too! 🙂
Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
I like to think that sometimes they are triggered by things you’ve read or watched or heard, other times they are messages, often subtle not their literal meaning, from your sub-conscious dragging up fears, hopes, wishes, or past events which need solving. I’m sure being chased in dreams is a really common theme, but isn’t always bad, I think I read that sometimes the chaser is actually trying to catch up with you for a good reason, or if you can have any form of control in a dream and stop and face the chaser it is powerful, but don’t ask me how you could do that when dreamtime happens so fast. I have a recurring themes of losing my shoes, handbag and car – quite bizarre, but common as well, I think!
Dream time does happen so fast, I’m not sure I ever have control enough to face my chaser but I’ll have to try it. I also have a lot of dreams where I’m already up and doing things for the day- super disappointing when I get out of bed and find I have to do them all over again!
Oh absolutely! I have dreams that haunt me forever 😀 some good ones and some bad… But dreams are good ,aren’t they?
As much as I dislike some of them, it’s true, I’d hate to be without them completely!
Not often, but occasionally I’ll have a dream that haunts me for days – usually a spooky one!
Why is it that the spooky ones haunt longer than the good ones, totally unfair!
I wrote a long reply on my phone and it disappeared so here is my reply again. Yes! I have vivid dreams, good and bad that stay with me all morning and then when my head hits the pillow at night parts of the dreams return–odd, huh? Even though retired, I have the old work-anxiety dream where I no longer work at my old employer, yet people keep coming to me, to give me more work and I can’t get it done. Then this morning I had a really fun dream about sailing on a small cruise sailboat in the Caribbean ( where does this come from) and one of the crew had me help her up on the bow, to raise rainbow striped sails! There were party boats in the harbor with people laughing and have a great time and then a fishing boat where there was a chain of people tossing and passing huge fish from the boat to a hold for selling. The only thing that made sense was rainbow sails ( as we had been at a pride festival last Sat.) but all the other stuff was weird. So yes..lots of dreams, vivid..and yes I have nightmares more often than good ones..and people dying.–Annette
Wow, a whole day is long for a dream to stick in a persons head I think. I often (and it’s usually the bad ones but not always) go back into a dream in the night, even when I try not too. But I’ve never revisited one the next night! I like to hope that I have more good dreams that I forget quickly but most of the ones that are very vivid are decidedly un-good!
Oh Jessie I love you, your posts always make me giggle! 😂 I don’t remember my dreams as often now but I used to have vivid dreams a lot. I also had a habit of sleep walking and talking in my sleep. Sometimes I will sit up in bed now and shake Lizzie awake to tell her something apparently, but she just shushes me back to sleep (and it’s hard to lipread someone mumbling in the dark!)
The worst dream I can remember is having little wriggling black slugs coming out of my belly button!
I also remember having a fantastic dream about having a millennium falcon toy and figurines, only to wake up and it wasn’t there (it’s okay, I got one as an adult)
My most recent good dream was that Lizzie’s cousin bought me two t-shirts. I can’t remember what the first one was now but the first was a Warhammer 40k one. I’ve played it at a friend’s years ago but I’m not a fan as such. Bizarre.
My most recent horrible dream was after hearing the news saying a woman had died in a car crash while I was half asleep. Dream Me was convinced it was my friend even though she wouldn’t have any reason to be in the city where it happened. I had to check her Facebook updates before and I’ve seen her since but I was horrified😱
Sleep talkers can be funny! My brother used to talk in his sleep a lot (maybe he still does?) and often he would have a “conversation” with me. Always nonsensical and hilarious! Occasionally John will pretend he’s not tired and try to have a conversation while he’s asleep- those also get interesting quickly! 🙂 I love that you remember your good dreams too, I have good dreams that I remember occasionally but they don’t stick with me for nearly as long.
You know how some dreams start to fade as soon as you wake up? They make perfect sense while you’re in them but collapse as soon as you try to remember them. In the time it’s taken me to reach for my phone (yes, checking social media as soon as I wake up at 6am is not good!) and read your frog post it’s already slipping away.
I dreamt I was a new teacher at a high school. There was dancing involved and another teacher who introduced me to his class. He was a Doctor and some friend/relation of mine even though no such person exists. For some reason I got another lady teacher to help me pretend everyone was scared of me by accepting a pair of shoes from me (you know that scene in Beverly Hills Cop where Axle Foley pretends the pack of vitamins are a bomb – I handed the shoes over like that) so the kids who were watching on CCTV (why??) would like me.
I know exactly where it came from: Lizzie was watching Jane The Virgin on Netflix last night and the episode was about being a teacher!
That is weird how dreams collapse like that isn’t it? I recently had one about having to go back to kindergarten. It was TERRIBLE! (But I have no idea where it came from.)