I just had the strangest dream, and not in a good way. It felt like I was a character stuck in an episode of Twilight Zone—entertaining only when it’s not happening to you. It also happened to be a lucid dream—a dream where you’re aware of dreaming and retain a level of control over your actions.
I was semi-aware of dreaming, and at the same time, wasn’t. I wasn’t much in control of what was happening, but I was in control of waking up which I delayed because I wanted to fall asleep all the way. Once I’d had enough of the weirdness, I didn’t want it to continue, I consciously stopped and woke up to a WTF feeling.
I’m not sure where the dream was happening. It wasn’t in my home since the rooms and the furniture were different; however, they weren’t specific enough for me to remember. It was definitely at night as most of it happened in the dark. I don’t remember encountering people I knew, more like avatars of people I knew, and cats—lots of cats.
The dream
The dream started when I had a visitor, a mentor of sorts. It was someone I knew in the dream but who doesn’t exist in real life. We were supposed to have a powwow of analyzing a piece of writing, but my computer wouldn’t work. Funnily enough, I remember pounding at the keyboard but don’t remember the presence of a screen or a PC tower. I guess my dream forgot to render all the way. And my anxiety grew because I couldn’t make the “computer” work and I was afraid my mentor was going to call me out on not doing my homework.
I’m sure this has nothing to do with my critique group whom I meet with every Tuesday, which is tomorrow, and for which I haven’t prepared for yet. Hehe. Definitely not real anxiety seeping into a dream.
Then I noticed that some keys on my keyboard where chipped. Well, no wonder it wouldn’t work. I got up with a “What’s going on?” feeling. And then I saw multiple versions of my cats.
I have two cats. They are bonded to me, and they like to follow me around. I have this joke that I have fourteen cats because every room I go into has two cats in it.
And this was the joke actually happening. It might sound funny, but believe me, it didn’t feel funny. The “extra” cats weren’t acting any weird, but as they hissed as each other, my anxiety grew. It was like a dejavu multiplied. I started to wonder which cat was real.
And then a bad feeling overtook me. Was I even real?
If these cats aren’t real, is anything real? Am I real?
There was a lump on my bed. I uncovered the blanket and found myself sleeping. I was the extra me! Was I astral projecting? Was I a ghost? But I was interacting with the mentor earlier. They saw me. Was my mentor a ghost too? What did all of this mean?
As I continued walking around, finding more cats, feeling more and more like a ghost stuck in Twilight Zone, I grew more and more aware of dreaming. I said to myself, I’ve had enough, and I woke up.
How aware was I during this lucid dream?
When I was dreaming, I felt like I was half-asleep. I could hear my husband doing something in the kitchen. I was even angry at him for making such a ruckus while I was trying to sleep. But at the same time I was in a different setting, which felt like home when I was lucid-dreaming, and only realized it wasn’t home when I consciously chose to wake up.
And I think that’s what was so weird about it. In dreams, usually, you don’t question what’s happening. Like when my computer wasn’t working, my dream didn’t make the connection that you need more than a keyboard for a computer. But I was lucid enough that once I started seeing multiplied cats, I knew it wasn’t right. I was aware that I was dreaming, and knew that was why weird things were happening, which is what’s so unique about this experience.
And I don’t think this was the first time I dreamt this dream. It felt like it had happened to me before, but when it had, it wasn’t lucid and I didn’t remember. Since I wrote it down this time, I expect that I’ll remember it well now.
Nowadays, I rarely ever dream, but if my brain wants me to dream like this, I’d rather remain dreamless.
Have you ever had a lucid dream? Tell me about it in the comments.
This wasn’t my only strange dream. Check out this trippy nested dream.
