Do you have ADD dreams? I do. All the time. Here are a few re-occurring ones that border on nightmares because I wake up from them a bit shaken.
Not Finishing College/Skipping Classes
It happened again last night. I was at my college talking to a professor or advisor. I was telling him I decided I had chosen the wrong major (something to do with animal health), which is why I hadn’t gone to my classes the last 3 ¾ years. We talked about changing my major to something that would interest me and I asked if it was worth returning to my classes to at least complete the end of the semester.
These dreams almost always include not knowing where my classes are and deliberately not going. And often- very often- I cannot find where I’d parked my car.
Fact: When I *was* in college ten million years ago for my B.S., I studied Art Education. I hated the education related classes but loved the fine arts classes. I stuck it out, even through student teaching, then spent 6 horrific months subbing and then ditched the whole teaching profession and instead, returned to college for two years of painting classes, then on to study psychology via social work school. Sound familiar?
Many with ADHD go through a similar school/vocational experience, not finding their passion- or following their passion- until later in life.
I must be school obsessed because another re-occurring dream takes place in a school setting. This one happens so frequently, you’d think my brain would be bored of it, but no…it still makes me super anxious:
I’m in high school (sometimes college) and I cannot find my locker. If I do, I can’t remember my combination. I wake up anxious. Very anxious.
Fact: I actually DID frequently forget my locker combinations in those days and I’d be so worried about it, I’d write it down on my hand. I think there was a time, too, where I’d be unsure which locker was mine. I’ve historically had problems with numbers, so could never remember my locker numbers and would rely on visual cues (third locker past Mr. Cooper’s room).
When I was in college, I had to have the custodian saw through my combination lock, because again, I’d forgotten my combo. I decided the way to deal with all that back then (before I knew about my ADD) was to stop using my locker. At the end of the year, I had to remove my art supplies but couldn’t, so they are probably still sitting in that locker to the left of the archeology department, 40+ years later.
You can see that both dreams reveal anxieties about forgetting things, a pretty common symptom of ADHD.
How about you? Does your ADD follow you into your dreams? Care to share? Good! Just post them in the Comment section below.
