[ladyrevan21]

I don't really remember the content of the first nightmare all too well, aside from (I think) some sort of maternal figure hurting me, but I realized a lot of my nightmares seem to follow a pattern -- me waking up, horrified and unable to get back to sleep without the light on for a while, usually at the same time sometime in the early morning or so. As for the second dream, I think I was acting out a bit of a videogame (Star Wars-related), complete with slaves on a cart, and my main characters fighting their way through a tunnel to get to a freighter. (I'm...a bit of a KOTOR fan. It's how I got my username -- that and I was stumped for usernames)

So I guess the question is (a) what does this mean and (b) how can I stop waking up scared at the same time in the early morning, because those nightmares can get bad.

[Thunder Bow]

You may be fighting your way through a tunnel in real life, or at least feeling that way. Waking up feeling scared is due to anxiety. If your anxiety is getting overwhelming, Therapy may help with that.

[ladyrevan21]

Come to think of it, it does feel that way. I guess it just seems so long and so complicated, and unfortunately, I have yet to find a neurofeedback date while all these new fragments are spilling up, and I'm terrified that the story's going to end badly. Some of my family have compared it to similar instances when I was a kid when I'd have fears of sharks, but this is a lot different. Maybe I'm just scared of what it will all mean. What I'll find. And what else I'll find with it. And I have to tell myself time and again that I'm not stupid or a coward, even if it takes a lot of practice.

As for the waking up part -- I think anxiety could be the case. It calls back to those awful moments when I'd wake up with my heart beating really fast, back when the flashes started. My therapist...I don't know when I'll meet with her (we kind of alternate on different weeks; on one week it's Thursday, on another it's a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday thing), but I'll bring it up. I'm also thinking of dialing back on a meditation app I'm using for the time being (or changing the settings) so I can get to sleep with minimal weird dreams/nightmares. (I also have group therapy, so I could talk about my sleep woes there)