Last night I dreamt that I was waterskiing off of the fin of a Great White shark….I haven’t watched ‘Jaws’ in years so where did that one come from?
Dreams – so vivid in the moment yet escape from our minds more often than not within the blink of an eye. Messages from our subconscious or foretellers of our futures? Whatever the reason, it must be said that some are pretty entertaining, wouldn’t you agree?
Let’s go on a journey together to the nodland and revisit the dreamy destinations which have left me saddened, surprised and scared within seconds. Perhaps you have some memorable moments while you’ve slept too over the years?
- Pure Childhood Sadness
It’s strange how much I remember this one because honestly it must’ve been about 15 years ago when I was 12 or 13. I think I remember the dream so vividly because the feeling of sadness was so overwhelming it left an imprint on my little child brain at the time.
The dream began with me smelling this concoction of salty ocean air and sweet coconut-esque suncream. I was on holiday, I was in a little purple rubber ring to be exact bobbing up and down on the warm waters of the medditerraen sea. I could hear the bustle of the crowds baking on the beach and the laughter of my family members at a closer distance who were snorkelling for sea cucumbers or something nearby me. I just remember a pure feeling of joy and relaxation. It felt so real that anyone who would’ve been looming over my bed at the time would’ve seen me grinning from ear to ear, while I was holding a hand above my brow to keep out the baking midday heat from my squinting little eyes.
In my dream, I was eating ice cream, which somehow morphed into lemonade which ultimately became a cute turtle who I hurled into the ocean by accident as I fell off my rubber ring and crashed into the water only to open my 12 year old eyes and realise I wasn’t really on holiday afterall, but instead, lying in my dark cold room in the middle of winter in the UK. That feeling of saddness shook me to my little core, I honestly didn’t experience anything more disappointing at that age than the day I had dreamt that I was in sunny Spain. I remember ripping open my curtains to reveal a dismal day which perfectly reflected my crashing mood and a single tear that fell from my face. It sounds silly now, and yes of course there are more significant things to shed a tear over. But when you’re a child, it’s the little things that can spark joy in you, and who doesn’t have fond memories of feeling excited whilst on holiday? It was all of that bottled up and then broken into a million tiny pieces with the opening of my eyes which ultimately resulted in tears streaming down them within seconds. For reality well and truly set in that Great British weather really isn’t that great after all. #cryface.
2. Sleep Paralysis
Not so recent, but nevertheless as memorable as the day before yesterday. I have to mention this ‘experience’ to you because you never know when you might be hit with it during some stage of your 40 winks if you have not already been so.
It first happened to me about 10 years ago, I was visiting my Aunt and cousins in Middlesborough, North England. My sister and I shared a room with a bunk bed. I was on the top bunk of course out of fear of claustrophobia, or worse ‘the guillotine’ (just watch final destination (the gym scene)). Anyway there I was fast asleep until..well..I wasn’t when I awoke and felt like an invisible concrete slab had just been plonked onto of my entire being! Honestly I couldn’t move a muscle despite the fact I was able to have conscious thoughts at this point, and that my eyes were spinning about in my head like I was trying to trace an invisible fly around the room. I was in shock, why am I having conscious thoughts, my eyes are blinking but I can’t move a single muscle in my body? Well, this combination made for one of the most terrifying moments of my life.
And it only got worse as I realised not only could I not move, but I couldn’t SCREAM FOR F*CKING HELP!!! When I realised I couldn’t wiggle not even my fingers I tried screeching like a pterodactyl, growling like a heavy metal artist, grunting like a pig! I tried everything possible to raise my distress to my sister who I could hear making quite a bit of noise thanks to her floor trembling snoring. There was no chance that I was waking her up, the girl could sleep through WW3.
So there I was lying motionless, eyes darting about the place like a shifty drug dealer through airport control. Beads of sweat were trembling down my brow into my mouth which still wasn’t making any noise, just minimal opening and closing movements like a bug-eyed goldfish.
It felt like an eternity, but after mere moments I was starting to feel something, like, pins and needles in my fingers and toes, then it spread through my entire body. This lasted mere seconds, and quickly faded, almost like I was being defrosted, now I know what a chicken nugget feels like I suppose. Finally the tingles faded and I was released from my frozen state. I found myself making small noises to myself (like they do in Planet of The Apes) just to check if I could speak or not. Thankfully I could (although my parents would probably say otherwise).
And with the sheer exhaustion and shock, as the relief set in that I could act like myself again I fell immediately back to sleep ha! And I’ve never forgotten that terrifying moment since!
*It’s crazy, because when I told my friends about this, one replied with ‘yeah, I had that before and do you know that your mind can go a step further and play dark twisted tricks on you like imagining there is a scary figure in the room lurching over you etc etc etc’. Just what I wanted to hear, right? So as a word of warning, if you ever wake up ready to get out of bed, but realise that you can’t move and there’s a rather unholy figure looming over your head just close your eyes and know that it’s just a bad dream……or maybe it’s not!!!!
To learn more about sleep paralysis check this video out, it’s actually really fascinating stuff that’s happening in the brain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1sCa5Tu1fs
3. Ninja Turtles Wolves
As an avid dog lover, perhaps all it takes is one too many walks in the parks with my furry friends for them to somehow manifest themselves into my dreams, or shall I say nightmares. And …um…well…what if they weren’t even my pets but some very ferocious very unfriendly canine creatures otherwise known as ‘wolves’. Beautiful to look at from a distance I’m sure we can all agree to that but not so much if they’re gnawing on the inner side of your left tibia, right?
Well let’s fast forward to a relatively recent dream of mine where I lived in a little thatched cottage in the middle of a random supermarket carpark. Much like that of the three little pigs in the fairytale (the cottage not the carpark of course). So yeah, I was pretty much calling myself a swine #selflove #delicious. And in this tiny cottage lived my pig-headed family (jokes hehe). Anyway one night I decided to look through my letterbox for completely no good reason, and as a result two toxic green eyes were staring right through me. They were hypnotic and piercing and they meant only one thing – danger!
I slammed the letterbox shut and screamed but obviously my other family members must’ve had ‘sleep paralysis’ for nobody came to my rescue, this sounds alot like real life too! Anyhow, I screamed and ran around the house like a headless chicken, and each time I paced passed the window and gave a quick feeble glimpse outside I could see a pack of wolves all dressed in ninja outfits with samurai swords smiling at me with their pointy fanged teeth and stunningly beautiful, stunningly scary emerald green peepers. It sounds humorous but these weren’t toy poodles with water pistols after all.
Somehow or another the sun must’ve risen within seconds because the next thing I know it’s daylight and I’m outside sitting on the shoulders of my brother as he is running up and down the bays of this empty car park as I swing haphazardly with a bat trying to knock out these mysterious wolves. As for my mum, dad and sister? They were probably part of the wolves afternoon buffet by this stage. It was just my brother and I left. But it literally felt like we were swimming in treacle. For no sooner had we wiped out one ninja wolf than did two magically appear in its place. It was as if the game had been set to insanity level mode.
And with this I must’ve admitted defeat because I can’t remember a darn thing after that, Actually, you know what, let’s end it on a happy note – the wolves shapeshifted into puppies and were re-homed to loving families. (yeah right).
So I think that’s enough insight into the inner workings of my sleeping mind for one day. And if this isn’t bad enough you should hear my conscious one! Well, I suppose this blog sort of is that….but.. a tamer version. I can’t be sharing all of my ‘dear diary’ moments haha
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about a few of my dreams, I’d love to hear of yours too for dreams really are fascinating.
Until next time, take care 🙂
The Neon Squid 