So there's been some discussion of dreams on Bitch Ph.D. and on The Paper Chase. I thought I'd share one of my stories.
My anxiety dreams always took the form of being back in high school, and throughout grad school I had a recurring nightmare where someone had discovered that I had been missing a few credits from high school, and unless I went back and made them up, all of my degrees since would be invalidated. And so I had to actually go back to my high school, blah blah blah. And there was always an exam in a class that I had never been to, etc. You know, the usual.
Last year, shortly after my successful dissertation defense, I had the dream again. I was sitting in a high school classroom, taking an exam, and I didn't know any of the answers. Suddenly I remembered something. I stood up in the middle of the classroom, and yelled, "I have a Ph.D.! I don't have to be here!" And I walked out of the room, and woke up.
I have never had the dream since.
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9 comments:
Ahh yes, *that* dream. Happens to me frequently; in fact I just had one last night. In my case it usually takes the form of:signed up for a science and math class, am doing really badly, am about to miss the deadline for dropping it without the grade going on my permanent record.
That is excellent that you resolved yours after your dissertation. Me, I'm still in the process of deciding when and where (and whether) to go back (again) to grad school, so I fear these'll be with me for a while. Hm. Maybe I need to try lucid dreaming techniques again...
I had similar dreams every time I'd move up a level... now they are something like I'm sitting in class and the teacher is teaching my intro class all wrong.
So funny that the 'forgot you were signed up for a class and now it's exam time' dream is this common! I had endless variations of this dream starting in high school and continuing all the way through grad school. Although I dropped out of grad school after 5 years instead of getting a PhD I still don't have those dreams anymore because I got a cool job that I barely deserved at the time. My anxiety dreams now involve my boss discovering I'm thinking of maybe starting a real job search so I can move back to the East Coast and firing me instantansously for hiding something from him.
Oh my gosh, I *totally* want to have that dream end the way yours did. That rocks.
oh oh oh !! I have this dream. Damn! I still get it.
how vindicating! Awesome.
What a great way to end that horrid dream!
Off topic. So sorry. But, Brazen, clare tells me I should talk with you about your vacuum cleaner. See my latest post and comments when you have the chance. I'd much appreciate it!
Yeah, I'm still pretty excited about how that dream ended. Now I have anxiety dreams about teaching, or being evaluated teaching and the students won't stop talking. Also many dreams about having to pack for a long trip, and I can't seem to get my stuff packed, and I can't get to the airport on time.
lucyrain - ROOMBA!!!
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