I Never Have Nightmares

I rarely remember any dreams I may have.  For much of my life, I actually didn't get much REM sleep (due to sleep apnea); once I got the underlying issues fixed I did have some very bizarre dreams that seemed very real to me.  On waking, I would often have a hard time distinguishing the recollections of these dreams from actual memories, which is why some of you got phone calls from me asking, "we didn't [something really strange], did we?"

I think I get better REM sleep now (although I'm honestly not sure; haven't been back for a sleep study in a while); but I don't usually remember my dreams.  The ones I do remember are never nightmares; honestly, I don't think I HAVE nightmares.  Or at least, not often.

For instance:

The other night I was dreaming about being bored (yes, really); and decided to go for a bike ride to entertain myself.  So I went for a bike ride; the bike path in question was elevated, about a mile above the city streets (think monorail track with bike jumps).   Great views, but only one problem: I'm scared of heights, which was worsened by the severe narrowness of the trail.  So I came to a wide spot in the track, which was a great place to rest except for one problem: it was occupied by some kind of bizarre owl/trout hybrid that was clearly poisonous.  I backed off down the trail for a moment, and returned to find the beast had (left? mutated? been eaten?) and a large snake was left in its place.  This worried me for a moment until I realized that it was an anaconda and they are not poisonous. I was able to push it off the platform leaving me safe, but still worried about how to get down.  I stopped and thought for a bit, and realized that, if I were in a movie, I could just have a training montage and be back on the ground.  One training montage later, on the ground I was.  At this point, I just had to figure out how to get home.  Of course, I had my phone on me so I just pulled up a map program and started walking.

This probably isn't a lot more bizarre than most people's dreams.  The interesting part of it is that, every time I came to a challenge, I solved it.  I'm not sure, but I think this says something about my self-confidence.   On some deep level, I think I can fix whatever comes along; so what would normally be a nightmare becomes an interesting challenge.