We dream the same dream

I’ve been aware for several years now that I’m rather like my Mum.

We look pretty similar and have quite a few personality traits in common, some of which she apologises for!  What amuses me though, is that we have similar dreams too!

We’ve talked a few times over the last few years about a dream we both have about trying to find a toilet.

Wait, it gets weirder!

Generally I do manage to find a toilet in these dreams, but they are never, ever useable.  Either there’s no door on the cubicle, or the toilet’s just in an open plan room with other people milling around or, best of all, it is absolutely filthy.

Now, I’m not really sure what this dream means.

My Mum did once suggest that it’s about having something that we need to get rid of, or get ‘out’, but something is holding us back.  So maybe we have something we need to say to someone, but can’t bring ourselves to do it.  I’m not sure.

What’s interesting though, is that we were talking about these dreams the other weekend when I was in Kent and it turns out my sister has them also!  Although, in some of hers the issue is that the toilet isn’t even plumbed in, and I’m not sure I’ve come across that one yet!

My Mum then went on to reveal that, after searching for toilets in her dreams for years, in recent months she’s actually started to find them, and use them.  So there’s hope for me and my sister yet!

Toilets aside, I really do love dreams.  I find them absolutely fascinating.

Some nights my dreams are really just strange, other nights they’re amazingly mundane.

Sometimes I can work out where my brain’s created them from, like when I dreamt about bumping into Richard Madden on a train after binge-watching Game of Thrones.  But sometimes I really can’t figure out what on earth was going on in my head when I was asleep!

I always find them fascinating though.

For me, dreams can be so vivid, so real, that the emotions from them linger into the day.  Which isn’t always a good thing, but I find it amazing that the unconscious mind can create something so ‘real’ that it sticks with you into the day.

One thing that I’m not so fond of though, is being woken up in the middle of a dream by a shouting child.  It’s so disorientating, and happens too often for my liking!  I think I must drift into REM sleep at about 5.30am, which is around the time my two sometimes start to stir and shout.

My husband, on the other hand, is flat out in deepest, darkest sleep at that time, so is no help to me whatsoever!

He doesn’t even stir when I grumble and mutter and roll out of bed to see what the children need.  Although, strangely, he’s often come to enough to roll over to my side of the bed by the time I try and climb back in.  I think we need to get one of those adjustable beds, so that I can raise the head on my side before I get out so he can’t roll over and steal my pillow!

On those days when I’ve had a particularly early start, or disturbed night’s sleep the night before, I will sometimes shut my eyes on the sofa with Nerys when I’m trying to get her down for a nap.

I’m sure that me snuggling down and dozing off helps her to drift off too.  Sometimes I only doze for a few minutes, but other times when I’m really tired I will properly fall asleep and dream, and I do find it really disorientating then when I wake up, and realise that the dream wasn’t real.  And the thing is, my children are raring to go straight away so I’m never given much time to disengage from my dreams and, well, engage in reality!

I’m trying to teach them that Mummy needs just a few minutes to properly wake up before she can really be much use to them.  And some mornings I just really need to find a toilet before I can do anything else!

Do you find your dreams filter through into the next day, or are they gone the second you open your eyes?  What’s the weirdest dream you’ve ever had?  Do you also dream about toilets?!  Please leave me a comment and reassure me that’s not just a weird family thing!

Disclosure- – this is a collaborative post.