Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Fitful

Really, now. This has GOT to stop.

Lately I've been having kinda strange dreams. Most of them I can kinda see where they come from, because they are at least in very small part related to something that's happening in my life - minor things that take a bizzarre twist in the dream.

Like doing laundry for example. I had a load in the dryer when I went to sleep last night.

Then all of a sudden I am flying to Amsterdam for the wedding of somebody I don't even know and my plane leaves in an hour and a half and I'm not even packed and I have wet clothes in the washing machine of a high school laundromat. I'm trying to figure out what to wear and am asking advice from the friend who I'm going with while her friend is telling us that we should just go naked, cause that's what they do in Belgium. Belgium? I thought we were going to Amsterdam. For some reason I don't even have anything to wear to the wedding, and ALL my clothes are still wet in the washer. I go back to put them in the dryer, but it's lunch hour at the high school and all the dryers are taken up by pimply faced kids who are drying the afghan blankets their great grannies have knitted - and two of the dryers are fiulled with mac and cheese - and WHAT THE HECK AM I GOING TO DO MY PLANE LEAVES IN ONE HOUR. It is CRITICAL that I get on this flight. Oh, AND, I've made dinner at my parents house and have to get all the dishes washed before I go, and figure out what to do with the knee high tweety socks my cousin stuffed in the closet so they didn't stink up the whole room when she was sleeping over the night before.

Yeeeeah....

Or how about this one? Yesterday I drove past the little parking lot of the scuzzy little neighbourhood pub that's just around the corner, and I recall thinking that since the video store moved out of that complex, I haven't been in there. (The lot, not the pub!)

Suddenly I'm IN that lot, standing beside the open door of my car, which isn't parked, just sitting idling in the lot. I don't know how I got there or why my dad is there, either, but there we are. We were having some discussion about something when he started singing/chanting "tilly tilly tilly" or "toobie toobie toobie" or something like that over and over. He was just being silly... playful banter or something, but I was trying to talk to him, and he wouldn't stop. I even pulled out the, "OK, I'm really serious! Stop it!" but to no avail. So I start screaming at him. "Pleeease stop! ... Stop it ... stop it ... STOP IT!!!" Still he continued. I ran away screaming and crying in frustration, taking off around the building, bawling and raging and so entirely frustrated. I was heaving, I was so upset. I ducked into the pub for a few minutes to calm down. But I was so upset that when someone asked me what was wrong (it might have been my mom...) I just burst into tears. By the time I went back out, my dad had parked the car and was sitting inside like nothing had happened.

Right-o.

These last two dreams were both from last night, but there have been others in the last few weeks. I don't remember what was happening in those ones, but I remember tehy were other highly, highly stressful, frustrating, and/or emotional situations.

The problem with these dreams is that they are so real that I WAKE UP still feeling stressed out from the dream. Each time, I wake up with a raging headache and I'm all tense and my tummy feels funny. As if I don't battle being stressed out enough, my dreams are adding to it. ARG! How do I stop this?

Off I go to take an advil or two. I have to recover from my sleep before I start my day.

11 comments:

nachtwache said...

Oh dear!! It sounds like your day stresses are affecting you still while you sleep. What's stressing you? Can you do anything about it? If yes, deal with it, if no, give it to God and let it go. Are you having anxiety attacks? You must be having some mega stress, to have it show up in your dreams. Maybe you need to talk to someone, about ways to cope, what you can do to de-stress! Take care, you're in my prayers.

BarbaraMG said...

Try eating a small snack before bed...something high in protein like a PB sandwich and a glass of milk. This will help your blood sugar from getting low and may stop your adrenalin kicking in.

Anonymous said...

oh, dude. and I thought my coughing/ventalin was giving ME weird dreams...you got me beat!

as to what to do about them?? um, stop coughing and don't use your inhaler. :P Barring that, I relax to sleep much easier if I do a little mental checklist before bed to show myself that I haven't forgotten anything...

good luck :) (it makes for good blogging though!)

Anonymous said...

ROTFLOL!

OMG Hillary you had my HYSTERICALLY laughing with this! This is SO funny to me because I could see myself having the same dreams! I absolutely get what you're talking about. Specifically the effects you still have when you wake up. It's just so funny to me to read someone else's version! (If I'm not mistaken, my father played a smiliar role in the last dream I had like this too! Lol!)

Know what else? It might be hormonal. Seriously. Yes there's life stresses too, but whether or not they mess with your dreams may be horomonally based. Start making a note in your calendar about which days in your "cycle" you get these and see if there's a pattern. (and let me know what you find!)

shawna said...

you could also try calming tea like camomile or valarian before bed. i almost always have a valarian tea before bed (or if i've been really stressed valarian tablets).

Unknown said...

I think you need to be taking a sleeping pill so you'll get some sound sleep a couple times...get rid of the stress! :)

Hoo boy. Maybe you just need a good pedicure to make it all go away?

Trudy said...

love the new template! and i'm expecting you to notice within 2 minutes that i've been on / checking your site :)

Anonymous said...

Come to Cincinnati!!!!!

Dennaliatha said...

I've battled some intense insomnia and crazy dreams like you explained, here's what works for me:

pray before going to sleep to wipe the slate clean and maybe even ask for a sound night sleep

a glass of red wine to calm the nerves if things are really hectic

winding down at least an hour before bed, no crazy intense shows or loud overly stimulating music

Ask friends to pray for you, which I'll certainly be doing

Anonymous said...

Keep us posted, OK? Sounds like you have enough advice for now. I'll be praying with you, too.

Unknown said...

wow and i thought I had weir dreams! what fun! ha. love the new lay out. wish i could figure out how to do this stuff!!!