Have you ever noticed your dreams spilling over into reality after you wake up? Not the events, of course, but the feelings.
For me, most of my dreams take me into these humdrum, almost bland everyday experiences—but always with a twist. The twist usually makes the situation frustrating or slightly annoying without transforming it to the point where I can easily tell I’m in a dream.
The other day, I was cycling with two friends. They were calmly pedaling on a straight road on my left, having fun, chatting away. Meanwhile, I was riding on something akin to train tracks. The ground kept rising and falling, forcing me to ride up ramps and back down again. To pay attention to not get stuck and fall over. “Why am I struggling so much, and they’re just cruising?” I wondered.
Since dreams feel real, why wouldn’t the feelings we have after we wake up? In this case, the frustrating experience in the dream made me slightly irritable and uneasy. I ended up standing in the bathroom, brushing my teeth, thinking about it. This is a common occurrence.
Sometimes, my entire morning routine goes towards shaking off the remnant feelings from disconcerting dreams. I’m starting to accept this as a normal and okay pattern. Morning routines are for getting ready for the day. What does it matter what we must deal with to get there? Whether it’s physical tiredness or an emotional reset?
If you almost miss your bus stop and barely manage to get off in time, that’s going to spike your adrenaline. Chances are, you’ll deal with this almost-crisis for the next few hours, consciously or not. I don’t know the proportions, but it makes sense to me that an actual missed bus stop—even in a dream—will have a similar or even more dramatic effect. That’s okay. Just as it’s okay to then let that surge of emotions pass.
After all, it was only a dream—and sometimes, the best part of those is waking up.
