When I was little with a regular, early bed-time I would apparently start sleep talking at 11 pm, like clockwork. My family tells me that I would sometimes be agitated, or happy, or upset, but always talking at light speed. I never remembered anything the next day, and always felt rested.
Then, when we were camping, I'd roll onto my poor sister and start chatting in her face, or sit up and claw at the nylon or something. Strange, to be sure, but luckily for me my family was always forgiving. I genuinely had no idea I was doing it. I was asleep!
Well, I've apparently entered the next age of my active dreaming. Years ago when I went to Bermuda to visit my cousins, I half woke up in the night/morning. What happens is my imagination/dream gets combined with partial awareness of actual situations, and I fabricate a situation that needs to be solved RIGHT AWAY. I get up to fix it, that wakes me up a little bit and I realize what's going on. I fall back asleep immediately. Up until the Texas trip I had "actively dreamed" 4 times. Twice in Bermuda, once in Ottawa, once in Waterloo right before Texas. The Ottawa one involved Rob waking me up and asking what I was doing. I said "catching the things on the mantel". I was kneeling on the bed at about 2 am, trying to catch things from falling on his sleeping head off the mantel above the bed. Those of you who have visited us might remember that there is no mantel above the bed. Whoopsie! In Bermuda, I thought the window air conditioner had caught fire. When I leaped out of bed to save us all, I found that the air conditioner was loud because it was rattling in the wind, and the pink/orange "fire" was really the rising sun coming through the plastic around the unit. Back to bed for me!
Anyways, it was always a funny story to tell and a rare enough event. Till Texas. I did this active dream thing 3 times on the trip! Aieee! Sorry, strangers who are sharing a room with me! A few times they had short conversations with me, once I had to get up and "fix" a computer (which wasn't in the room) and turned out to be a flashing camera. Anyway, now I think it may be related to having a lack of sleep combined with some stress and a new place. Somewhat.
The night after I got home from Texas I was asleep and Rob came in after finishing work at midnight, and I called out Hello? Hello? Because, while not afraid, I couldn't figure out who the hell this was. It wasn't anyone on the trip, and I don't remember which hotel I'm in, and who are you? Rob told me later that I was okay, but I kept peering at him and not really answering any of his questions. Yipes!
So. What used to be rare kind of isn't anymore. I think I should keep a list of these events and what happens and what I thought was happening. Should be interesting, psychologically, right?
Heh. Anyway, consider it documented, at least partially.
3 comments:
It's interesting that your 'active dream' always requires you to take charge and fix the situation. I bet my bottom dollar that it's from being over-tired combined with the stress of not being in control of events. I don't know about the ottawa 'dream', but the others all sound like you were in a situation where you probably felt that events were spiraling out of your control. Your night-time self apparently resents being "a follower" during the day...
I know I have experienced something similar to this, but I can't actually recall. I was (am?) a heavy sleeptalker too, and I did a bit of walking. But the thing that reminds me most of what you are describing happened when I was coming out from my appendix surgery... I had a huge conversation with the nurse about their medical equipment (heart rate monitors, etc) and I felt totally awake, but then later I actually woke up and I knew that I had been half-dazed before. It was a weird feeling, like waking up into a new reality.
Sounds like you need to get away. Somewhere where there's nothing to worry about. Somewhere where there's nothing to do but relax. Might I suggest London (ON): the epitomy of quiet, lazy, dare-I-say boring places? According to the tourist beaureau, you can:
a) take a walk along the river
b) take a walk in the woods
or
c) take a stroll along a windy path
According to me you can:
a) sleep
b) drink (at home, though, away from the 18yr. olds)
c) do homework/go to school
d) wallow in your sorrows and daydream about living elsewhere
Tempting???
xoxoxo
Carolyn - if you're ever looking for work, you can definitely get a job with the Tourist Bureau. Their pamphlets need a little updating and you sound like the right person for the job! I bet you've even been outside of London for more than two weeks, and therefore will be able to provide a little bit of foreign 'je ne sais quoi'...
:-)
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