Well, it seems like it’s been way too long since I’ve been here. I could say I’ve been busy, and I have been, but that’s no excuse. I used to enjoy posting here quite a bit, but lately I’ve just gotten out of the habit. Of course there are other places where I’m constantly posting—see the picture links on the right for Whimsieville, The Marvelous Zone, The Drawing Room. Russ and I recently took a month’s vacation from The Drawing Room, because we’ve just been too busy, but now we’re back, watching and recording our comments about Dark Shadows, and it feels good to be back in the routine. I’m hoping I can also get back into the routine of posting a word or two here every now and then.
I guess it’s because I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve been having so many dreams. In fact, I’ve been dreaming so much, it’s really starting to bother me. I never have trouble getting to sleep, and if I wake up in the middle of the night (usually once, to use the bathroom), I almost never have trouble getting back to sleep. Sleep and I are very good friends. Sometimes, if life is especially stressful, and if I let myself start thinking about what’s going on during the day, then it’s hard to get back to sleep, but that doesn’t happen too often. It’s the rare exception, rather than the rule.
But here’s the thing: lately, I’m remembering my dreams a lot more. They’re not nightmares or anything terrible like that, it’s just that they’re so vivid. I’ve categorized my dreams into three categories. The first is “Oh yeah….I was dreaming…I think…” The second is, “Wow! What a crazy dream!” and the third is “Call Hollywood! I’ve got the plot for the next blockbuster!!”
Dreams are supposed to NOT make sense, right? They’re just a bunch of symbols, crazy disjointed stuff that would never happen in the real world. So when I have one of those “Call Hollywood” dreams, it makes me worry about myself. In the “Call Hollywood” dreams, there’s usually a narrative thread that makes absolute sense, characters with motivations, escalating plotlines, suspense. I can’t remember any of these dreams in detail now (and that’s probably a good thing) but I’m starting to think I should write them down when I wake up, because I might be able to put a good story together from all this.
So, as I say, the excessive dreaming has been bothering me for a while. Sometimes I think I must not be getting very good sleep. (Though I think most of the dreaming happens in the latter part of the night, towards morning. It seems I do sleep well during the first half of the night—so I should at least be thankful for that, right?) I’ve tried eating or drinking certain things before bed, and NOT eating and drinking certain things before bed. I’ve tried Melatonin and antihistimines. None of it makes any difference. I think I’m going to keep on dreaming, no matter what.
Is it a factor of age? Do we dream more as we get older? Why do we dream a lot at certain times in our lives, and not so much at other times? Is it as a result of something psychological, or physical?
The other day I came up with a new idea about all this dreaming. Instead of stressing about it, why not embrace it? I have an active and imaginative mind. If I listen to my dreams, maybe I’ll learn something. And maybe, if I learned whatever it is I’m supposed to learn, my brain could flip a switch and finally take a break from all this dreaming!!
As much as I say I’m going to “embrace” the dreaming, the idea of a full night’s sleep without the memory of a single dream sounds awfully nice.
