Periods in my life that involve extreme stress always lead to nightmares. These dreams share the same theme and are occurring far more often as my work situation spirals out of control. Nightly, I find myself sitting bolt upright in bed, trying to catch my breath, covered in cold clammy sweat, having just expelled a tiny squeal. It is not a frightening dream about monsters or spiders crawling into my mouth, it is far more boring than that. In fact, the dream is frightening in its utter mundainity.
So what psychological forms do these terrors come in?
It is my final year of university. My exams are just a few days away and course work needs to be handed in. But I have not been revising and essays have not been prepared. I have had a whole year to write my thesis, which I am yet to begin. I am not even sure what the exam subjects are. Now I am about to sit my A Levels but I am not prepared and only have a matter of hours to cram two years of study material into my little brain. Now it is my GCSE exams….you get the idea.
As it turned out, I did very well in my academic career and at some point I still plan to complete a master’s degree and even a doctorate. I passed my exams with flying colours and ended up with grades that I deserve to be very proud of. However, the mental pressure that comes with learning has not left me. I was guilty of leaving things to the last minute and then having a major panic attack, as I remained awake for days writing inadequate essays.
Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I am not sure what is real or not. So I get on with some revision, just in case.
5 Comments
Don’t leave all yer vocal exercises till the last minute either, you work-shy fop.
Ooops, very little time.
I have dreams like that. And then there was the one where I had a bottom like a yeti’s. That was scary.
That does sound scary Jo, what is a yeti bottom like?
A yeti bottom is covered in hair. Completely. Bum cheeks and all. It is very scary. Image Audrey’s bottom, but on a lady.
Bleurghhh.