[MotownJohnny]

I have this dream a lot. It's themes, I guess, are surprise, a question of fault, fear or panic, and sense of failure.

In my dream, I am a college student again, and in my last semester. I have to take a number of grueling courses to pass and get my degree. There are two similar variations to the dream.

In one variation, it is now the end of the semester, and I suddenly remember that I have been enrolled in these classes all semester, but I somehow "forgot" after the first few weeks, so have missed several months of classes, exams, and so forth. And, suddenly, it is final exam time, and my only chance of success is to pass exams with almost perfect scores on subjects I knew nothing of.

In the other variation, it is the end of the semester, and the professor announces that "the term papers are due tomorrow, and they are 75% of your grade, and they must be turned in by the beginning of class, no late papers are accepted" -- However, in my dream, I panic, because I NEVER was told there was a term paper, I know nothing about it, and I have 24 hours to crank one out, and impossible task. I complain that no one told me, the rest of the students look incredulously at me, or laugh, or whisper under their breath, and the professor says "It was in the syllabus" - I never got one of those, either.

So, what could all of this mean in relationship to my life as is? Any thoughts?

[kaliope]

I definitely see a theme of not feeling prepared to succeed. you feel you lack the tools and preparation to accomplish your goals and you feel you are on a time limit to get those goals met.

[unaluna]

I have similar recurring dreams also, altho not recently. Mine are more like, its the end of the semester and i havent done any of the reading and there is no way to catch up. Ive nevrr asked my t about it, but i will now. Im always very ashamed to be caught out like this, i cant believe ive done this ie in my dream. Another recurring dream ive had is that im back in high school and this happens, and then i realize i was just kind of auditing the classes, that ive already even finished college so it doesnt really matter. But before the dream gets to that point, i am trying to figure out how to get an incomplete, how to get a refund, all kinds of maneuvers.

[Open Eyes]

I had these kind of dreams a lot too, I finally traced it to the root in my childhood where I was so stressed and it affected my concentration in school so I stayed back in first grade. I always felt I missed something important like I had to go through school in spite of a missing piece that I could not explain.

The real missing piece was my never really feeling "safe" growing up, but I didn't understand it at the time.

I think these are common dreams of victims of abuse too, especially if abuse/neglect took place in childhood, when a child is expected to just grow up without the right kind of childhood where they felt safe and nurtured.

When you connect all the roots and finally realize that you "can" take over and you "can" achieve in spite of whatever was lost to you, then many of the haunting and puzzling feelings will slowly weaken more and more.

OE

[HazelGirl]

I think these are common for those in college or have been in college. I don't think it's anything more than a reflection of that. I have had many normal people say they have these dreams.