I’ve had an occasional but reoccurring dream since I was a kid. It’s one where I suddenly realize there’s some sort of exam tomorrow and I haven’t studied for it. Fear and panic ensue. Given my last significant exam was for a postgrad degree in my early twenties and I’m now in my early fifties, you’d think my brain might have given up panicking by now. I guess at this stage I’m stuck with it forever.
In the last few years a new dream has started periodically featuring in my mental movie theater. It’s one where I’m naked and just starting an amazing session with a fabulous domme when somebody entirely inappropriate shows up. Dream me never remembers to lock the playspace door. The visitors might be coworkers or friends or relatives. A couple of nights ago it was my Mother. She didn’t look happy about what she found. Fear and panic ensued. Freud would no doubt have a field day.
Amusingly I have a physical record of the effect her unexpected appearance had on me. I’ve been wearing a health tracker that, among other things, records my heartrate. My sleeping rate is fairly steady at 50 bpm. Right around the time of the dream there’s this narrow but very visible spike where my heart rate shoots up to just over 90 bpm. Getting my fight or flight reaction to kick in isn’t unusual in a session, but I don’t think it has ever been triggered quite like that before.
I’ll finish with an image of another dream scenario – inapproiately naked in a public space. I’ve fortunately never had this one but it seems to be a relatively common nightmare. Artwork is by Underling who sadly stopped posting to his site several years ago.