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Decoding Your Dreams: 6 Common Dreams and What They Mean

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Mass Amherst chapter.

Ever had a crazy dream and wonder if it could have any meaning? Don’t be so quick to convince yourself that it was just a dream. Paying attention to your dreams can say a lot about what is going in your everyday life. Your dreams are created by the subconscious mind. You may not realize it, but most occurrences in your dreams are clear representations of surpressed anxieties or fears in your waking life.

When analyzing your dreams, it is important to take into consideration where you are, what you are doing, and the people involved. Listening to the messages of your subconscious can be used to your advantage. Look at your dreams as a tool that will help you recognize the areas of your life where you can begin to make positive changes.

1. Being Naked in Pubic

The dream of being naked in public represents that you are feeling exposed. When you have a dream like this, think about where you feel vulnerable in your life. The clothes that normally cover your body have been stripped from you, symbolizing certain aspects of your life that you want to keep private and don’t want others to know. In this dream, your subconcious is telling you that your defenses are down and your true self is out there for everyone to see.

2. Failing a Test

Failing a test in a dream can suggest you are feeling inadequate or insecure about some aspect of your waking life. It may symbolize that you are setting your expectations too high for yourself, and in turn, you are fearful of not meeting them. The fear of failing a test can relate to a number of waking life fears such as performing poorly at work, failing to live up to the expectations of family members, or falling behind in life. It can also represent feelings of low self esteem or a lack of in self-confidence.

3. Falling

To dream about falling means that you are feeling overwhelmed and out of control in some situation in your waking life. It could reflect the way you feel in a particular relationship or in your work.

4. Pregnancy 

Do not panic, a dream about being pregnant does not mean you will soon be having a baby. In fact, it usually is a symbol of new beginnings and changes in your life. It may indicate that you are growing in your life or in a relationship. Pregnancy in dreams may also represent the birth of a new love, idea, direction, or goal.

5. Being Chased

This dream symbolizes that you feel threatened in your waking life. Pay attention to who or what you are running from. This threat can be a menacing person or situation that you’ve been having a hard time coping with.

6. Being late

Being late in a dream means that you may be experiencing regret over a missed opportunity. It can also mean that you feel unready or unsupported in a certain situation. It could relate to a feeling that time is running out in your life and you feel you do not have the time to accomplish all the things you want. On a positive note, being late in your dream can communicate the idea of, better late than never.

Sources like dreammoods.com and dreambible.com allow you to decipher dreams on your own.

Dream on Collegiettes™!
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Kara Settle

U Mass Amherst

Contributors from the University of Massachusetts Amherst