17 different women, 36 crazy children, 0 babies in utero
Adventures, Advice and Questions from a group of Mormon women who met in Queens, NY and have now scattered all over the place.
 

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Stress? Pressure? Macbeth?

As far as I know, I am not under any undue crazy pressure or stress. Just the usual stuff - try to be a good mom/wife/person, get laundry done, make sure I'm on top of stuff for work, errands - the usual.

But apparently, my body/mind thinks I am under incredible pressure...'cause I had some ROCKIN' weird dreams last night.

So, in my dream I was an actress playing Lady Macbeth in, obviously, Macbeth. Curtain was going up in a few hours and BOOM, I realized that I didn't know any of my lines. I've had this dream before (probably once a month), though never as detailed as Lady Macbeth. I BEGGED my understudy to go on. "Please, it'll be the opportunity of a lifetime! I can't fake Shakespeare!!!!" No dice. So for what felt like hours, my dream consisted of me walking around with a huge book, trying to memorize my lines. Of course it didn't work. Then I tried to work the big book/script into the blocking for the show - "Lady Macbeth can't be seen without her big book! It's a CHOICE!" No dice.

So anxiety is mounting and then all of the sudden, one of my teeth falls out. Then another! Two teeth! No lines!

BTW, in my dream after I lost two teeth, I totally looked like Amy Winehouse (girlfriend NEEDS to go to the dentist STAT).

Then there was a thunderstorm. So teeth falling out, curtain rising with lots of people waiting to see me play Lady Macbeth and a BIG thunderstorm.

What does it all mean?

And if you can't decipher the madness in my head, what are some strange doozies you've experienced while slumbering?

posted by Sara @ 1/12/2008 02:08:00 PM   add to kirtsy


17 Comments:

  • I heard teeth falling out is a sign that you are actually letting go of your problems. I have the theatre dream too about once every year or two. Honestly, since motherhood I don't remember my dreams a lot because I sleep so deeply.

    As a young adult I had a recurring (annoying) dream of serving a tennis ball and as soon as I went to hit the ball the cage around the court would shrink in and my racket would hit the sides back and forth and back and forth. AAAAAHHHH....never did serve that ball.

    When I was PG with my second I dreamt I could pull the baby out of the top of my stomach...a secret pouch...show the people (at parties and what not) that it was a healthy baby boy (though quite slimy), and then put it back in (I guess kind of like a gruesome kangaroo pouch). And there was absolutely no truth to it since it was a girl.

    The only other time that I recall quite vivid dreams was when I was reading a Stephen King novel, which I cannot remember the name and can't seem to find it either...but those were some psychedlic nights.
    posted by Blogger Kage at 1/12/2008 06:05:00 PM  



  • I have never had the teeth-falling-out-dream, although I hear it's very common. I guess I don't "let go" very well.

    It's funny how the same "stress dream" manifests itself differently...for Kage and Chloe it's on stage....for me I'm in class and its finals and I haven't studied or I'm on the basketball court and I don't know the plays.

    I had the same dream over and over from about age 5 to 18. My mom is driving and I am in the passenger seat when I push her out of the car and start driving. Only the location changed. I could never figure it out because my dad was a bit of a control freak and loomed as a much bigger figure in my life, while my mom was always more supportive and laid back.
    posted by Blogger Jen at 1/12/2008 07:38:00 PM  



  • Okay, I have both of these dreams A LOT! The teeth dream I've had ever since a car accident where one of my teeth was actually knocked out and the others were very loose. Usually I am somewhere public and my teeth start to wriggle and then fall out one by one in my hand. Then I just carry them around in my hand. Weird. The dream is usually very vivid and I wake up TOTALLY relieved that my teeth are still all there. Here's what I've read: it can mean a sense of powerlessness over a situation, anxiety over your appearance for some reason, fear of embarrassment in some situation. This is interesting too. I just looked on a dream analysis website and it said that a scriptural analysis for teeth-falling-out dreams is that you are putting your faith/trust in man instead of God. Weird???!!!

    And yeah, maybe it's because I was an actress for a while, but I have the forgetting-your-lines dream ALL THE TIME whenever I'm anxious.

    The worst thing about crazy dreams is that sometimes you wake up feeling like you didn't even sleep well. :(
    posted by Blogger Beth at 1/12/2008 09:26:00 PM  



  • Beth, same thing with me - they fall out one by one and then I walk around with them - weird...

    But I'm frustrated because I feel like, especially over the last 2-3 months, I have worked especially hard at putting my faith in Heavenly Father and NOT relying so much on myself/other things. It's been a big leap of faith for me - maybe that's why the dreams?

    Jen, sometimes I also have the "I am enrolled in a class, it's time for finals and I've never actually attend the class let alone studied for the final" - those dreams are just as bad as the forgetting lines in a play dreams...

    Here's hoping that my sleep tonight will be a little less eventful...
    posted by Blogger Sara at 1/12/2008 11:56:00 PM  



  • my friend at work loves to analyze my dreams. I have the school "finals" one a lot too and she always says it's a sign that I have a big deadline, project, or burden hanging over me that I haven't dealt with or is weighing heavily on me. Not sure if there's any truth to that but it always seems to be true. I'll be stressed about something big and all of a sudden I'm back in high school, taking the AP European History exam for which I've never been to class for. Funny thing is, I am always very aware of my two college degrees, but they always insist that I still have to be there!
    posted by Blogger Liz at 1/13/2008 07:28:00 AM  



  • I was just talking about this with DH last week... when I was a server (waitress) in college it was common for me and pretty much all my co-workers to have the dream where you have just been sat a table of 20 people and then shortly thereafter, another table of 20 people (for those of you who don't know, that would be A LOT to handle and very stressful) and you can't seem to get anything together-- can't find the water and the glasses or anything--so your tables are just sitting there waiting for service while you're running around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to get somethings together, but you can't seem to get anything done...all the while getting more and more tables. What I was telling DH is that these dreams were VERY common among servers (I worked at 3 different restaurants) and I didn't know of any such industry where the same type of thing happened in dreams, so I'm glad to know that it also happens to you theater peeps as well. Interesting. And even though I haven't been a server in over 6 years, I still have these dreams occasionally.

    In addition to my-teeth-falling-out dreams, I've also had many, many spider dreams. Spiders everywhere to the point that I wake up and think there are tarantula's in my bed. Not cool.
    posted by Blogger Miggy at 1/13/2008 07:39:00 AM  



  • Miggy - I totally have those dreams too. I used to be a server, but it's been about three or four years. So funny what is in our subconscious!
    posted by Blogger Beth at 1/13/2008 01:34:00 PM  



  • I hate when you have a dream that is so real that you really have to talk yourself out of it...like if you had a fight with your spouse and you're really mad at him when you wake up....
    posted by Blogger Kage at 1/13/2008 04:17:00 PM  



  • Like Kage, I rarely remember my dreams anymore. My only reoccuring dream is similar to Jen's - i'm in college and I figure out at the end of the semester that there is a class I was supposed to be going to and I never did. And now it's finals and I'm toast. I hate that dream. It leaves me filled with anxiety all day.
    posted by Blogger This is Carrie at 1/13/2008 05:06:00 PM  



  • Liz&Meg, I'm glad I'm not the only one with back-in-high-school dreams, all the while being very aware of my two degrees. Only for me it's usually algebra and/or English. I really really hate those dreams, because they make me feel very very anxious.
    posted by Blogger Keryn at 1/13/2008 09:49:00 PM  



  • Carrie, I frequently have the "oops, I forgot about that class and now I have to take the final" dream - they always seem to drag on for hours and leave me feeling very anxious.

    What is UP with that?!?! Seriously, if I could figure out what is causing me to forget my lines, forget about a class, lose my teeth I would totally fix it!
    posted by Blogger Sara at 1/13/2008 10:23:00 PM  



  • I have very vivid dreams ALL the TIME- which must mean I am not getting enough sleep! Last night in fact I totally dreamt I was taking a college dance class, and was heading over there, LATE, and as I pulled into a Gas station- the attendant came out and was like, "Your instuctor just called and said because you are 35 minutes late to class already you are going to have to pay a $45fine!"

    And of course when I got there the teacher was glaring at me, I missed a performing exam, and I said, "Come on, I have two kids and I am DOING THE BEST THAT I CAN!! Give me a break."

    Needless to say I woke up very anxious and stressed.

    I have had all sorts of school dreams like that.

    Being pregnant my dreams are even more strange and sometimes disturbing too- troubling enough that I would be embarrased even to say. I wake up sometimes- and go, "YIKES! What brought THAT on?"
    posted by Blogger Rachel H at 1/14/2008 06:42:00 AM  



  • My only stress dream is one where it's the end of my final semester of high school, but it turns out I've missed class too much (pretty much all of it, I think), and now I'm not going to graduate. Unlike others, I'm completely oblivious in these dreams to the fact that I have a college degree.

    And while that's the only stress dream, right now I'm having lots of very strange and very vivd dreams. It's one of those weird pregnancy things.
    posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 1/14/2008 07:56:00 AM  



  • My only stress dream is one where it's the end of my final semester of high school, but it turns out I've missed class too much (pretty much all of it, I think), and now I'm not going to graduate. Unlike others, I'm completely oblivious in these dreams to the fact that I have a college degree.

    And while that's the only stress dream, right now I'm having lots of very strange and very vivd dreams. It's one of those weird pregnancy things.
    posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 1/14/2008 07:57:00 AM  



  • So funny!! I have the teeth dream probably most frequently--they're always so weird. Don't know that I believe the symbolic "letting go" but that's ok. :)

    My most stressful dream is that I have to dial a phone number in an emergency and I keep messing it up! Or the numbers are blury, or I can't think of the number, etc. They are always when I am in emminent danger and very unpleasant!

    I'll occasionally have the one where I'm running as fast as I can but going at snail's pace...again when I am in grave danger and NEED to be going fast!

    And the ones involving being mad at your spouse...always a relief to wake up. Bizarre how we can all have such similar stuff go on in our sleep!
    posted by Blogger Katie at 1/15/2008 02:47:00 PM  



  • Ummm, that's "imminent" danger. Thanks, dictionary.com.
    posted by Blogger Katie at 1/15/2008 02:49:00 PM  



  • I FINALLY made a dentist appointment today because I'm so freaked out about my teeth. Though, with full disclosure, it's not just because of my wild dreams, it's because one of my teeth HURTS SO BAD...

    Maybe THAT's why I'm having crazy teeth dreams...
    posted by Blogger Sara at 1/15/2008 04:08:00 PM  



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