What does my dream mean?

Question

I had a dream that i had a 12 year old son and we decided to race each other in an olympic sized pool. We dove in at opp sides (width wise), but when i dove in i dove in deep and realized the pool was something like 70 feet deep. When i reached the bottom I realized everything was getting darker. I decided to keep swimming ot the other side so I could eventually surface but I calculated wrong and I was beginning to feel like I had no air left at all. I looked up to see if I could see my son but he wasn't in the pool any longer. Instead was a Cretaceous sized Shark swimming at the surface. I tried to surface at the moment iwih extreme fear and panic/desperation in my body, but after rising 10 ft my lungs gave out and I drowned. It was so disturbing it woke me up immediately and i was gasping for breath with my heart beating extremely fast. I just got out of a relationhsip with a boyfriend i'm still in love with and I was with him for over a year.

My boyfriend confessed to me today that he gets nightmares since we've broken up and he's had to sleep alone.

could this be why?

Answer 1

Howdy FrescoD,
Your dream is very profound and reveals much about your relationship with your "boyfriend". The 12 year old represents your boyfriend and possibly his level of maturity. In the dream he is your son because you still love him and will always love him. Was he your "first"? The depth of the pool represent the level of YOUR commitment to the relationship. Thus, you sank to the bottom because YOUR commitment was total, complete, and absolute. If he swims on the surface this means that his commitment was very superficial. The shark is what he has got coming to him. His just "desserts" for decieving you. He has broken your trust and can never be trusted again. The largest sharks lived during the Cretaceous. So I suspect that this is the size of your "disappiontment" with him. However, your "disappiontment" has teeth. You are hurt and vunerable. But be careful not to reveal this to him. He will see this as a sign of weakness. His revelation that his is also having nightmares is a lie. It is a pathetic excuse to keep his foot in the door that opens your heart and he thinks that it could lead to a possible "booty call" late one night.
If you have this or a similar dream again, swim to the surface. Push as hard as you can with your feet. Do not be afraid of the shark. Your can do it! When you break the surface, your will experience something that you have not felt in a long time.....Freedom!

Answer 2

I think it means that you felt like the relationship was eating you alive. The relationship was something you both made, so it makes sense that it would appear in your dream in the form of a child that suddenly became something you didn't want, something you were terrified of, something that caused you to panic and feel opressed. It just means that something was wrong in your relationship and there was a reason you broke up. You should talk to him and try to figure out what the problem was. If he's also having nightmares, it means you both had a problem that neither one of you talked about. If you still have feelings for each other and you can figure out what went wrong in the relationship, maybe you can be friends or maybe even get back together. Just work on it.

Answer 3

First of all, your 12 year son (if it indeed exists) may have little to do with you past relationship; however it is related.

Drowning = giving up
Swimming , diving = looking for purpose
12 year son = desire, goal in life,

It seems like you have some anxiety in your life. When you are trying to find your son, that signifies some desire you are seeking in real life. However, being drowned and not able to breath could mean you are giving up in something. Yes, this may be triggered by the fact that you got out of a relationship. You projected this swimming, diving and drowning scene to tell you that you are seeking for something, losing something, and giving up on something. Whether it is related to your past relationship, you have stress and some sort of anxiety about things you once had.

Answer 4

you're "diving" into something that was once familiar to you and seems safe, and turns out to be horribly deceptive. Welcome to this world. We all start off trusting, and hoping that others will accept us for who we are. Sadly, this does not happen, for the carpet has been pulled out from under us, and insecurity and fear are rampant in the world today.

That you had a son then he mysteiously disappears means that you dreampt that far ahead, and those dreams all came crashing down. It's like a promise was broken, and you can never get it back.

What you must do is improve yourself. Find out what it is about yourself that you don't like, and that you can change. Don't try to change others. It's a gargantuan job, and beyond the capability of any human. The only person you can change is you.

Answer 5

maybe because you didn't break-up wit your ex.. nicely, you must ask God for help, to clear your mind..
What causes nightmares?
There are a number of possibilities. Some nightmares can be caused by certain drugs or medications or by rapid withdrawal from them, or by physical conditions such as illness and fever. The nightmares of early childhood likely reflect the struggle to learn to deal with normal childhood fears and problems. Many people experience nightmares after they have suffered a traumatic event, such as surgery, the loss of a loved one, an assault or a severe accident. The nightmares of combat veterans fall into this category. The content of these nightmares is typically directly related to the traumatic event and the nightmares often occur over and over. Other people experience nightmares when they are undergoing stress in their waking lives, such as difficulty or change on the job or with a loved one, moving, pregnancy, financial concerns, etc. Finally, some people experience frequent nightmares that seem unrelated to their waking lives. These people tend to be more creative, sensitive, trusting and emotional than average.
What can be done about nightmares? It really depends on the source of the nightmare. To rule out drugs, medications or illness as a cause, discussion with a physician is recommended. It is useful to encourage young children to discuss their nightmares with their parents or other adults, but they generally do not need treatment. If a child is suffering from recurrent or very disturbing nightmares, the aid of a therapist may be required. The therapist may have the child draw the nightmare, talk with the frightening characters, or fantasize changes in the nightmare; in order help the child feel safer and less frightened.
The nightmares which repeat a traumatic event reflect a normal psychic healing process, and will diminish in frequency and intensity if recovery is progressing. If after several weeks no change is noted, consultation with a therapist is advisable.
Adults' nightmares offer the same opportunity as other dreams for self-exploration and understanding. With practice, the dreamer can often learn to decode the visual and symbolic language of the dream and to see relationships between the dream and waking life. The nightmare by nature is distressing, however, and the dreamer may need to reduce the distress before looking more closely at the meaning of the dream. Some techniques for reducing the distress of the nightmare include writing it down, drawing or painting it, talking in fantasy to the characters, imaging a more pleasant ending, or simply reciting it over several times. The more relaxed the dreamer can be while using these techniques the better. A number of good books are available for learning how to understand dreams. Alternately, the dreamer may wish to ask a therapist for assistance.
Sometimes nightmares are related to intense stress or emotional conflict that is best dealt with in consultation with a therapist. One should not hesitate to consult a therapist when in doubt.
It may be surprising to learn that many people are not really disturbed by their nightmares, even though the experiences themselves are distressing. Research has shown that about half of people who have quite frequent nightmares regard them as fascinating and creative acts of their minds and either view them as very interesting or dismiss them as "just dreams". This illustrates the fact that one's attitude toward nightmares is quite important.
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always remember that you are not alone.. try to talk to someone about your problems..

God is our refuge and sterght

Answer 6

Dreams are funny things.

What seems to happen when we sleep is that our brain "unpacks" the memories and feelings of the day. The feelings will often grab concrete symbols of things and rearrange them into a new but confusing story, sort of like dumping a few puzzles together and making some new configuration from the pieces.

Thus, there are usually "underlying feelings" that are being expressed, but some of the imagery is simply based on recent experiences / thoughts, or symbols that are personally important to you.

To check out the significance of the two big images, I would look at each one:

1. Swimming (Do you swim? Are you interested in swimming? Did you swim that day? Do you know much about olympic swimming? Does swimming usually scare you?)

2. Shark (Did you see the shark on a tv show that night, or had you recently heard of it? Are you typically afraid of sharks? And this shark was BIG.)

The image of your son however seems more specific and thus relevant to me. Do you feel like there is stress in your relationship with your son? As if you are in competition with him in some way, and that you will lose him if you don't somehow succeed or outmaneuver him? This could be one fear expressed in this dream.

You also experienced drowning -- your son disappeared, everything was dark and you were in far over your head, but when you tried to surface, the shark prevented you. You were trapped and had no idea what to do.

This feeling of being lost and of impending, unavoidable doom could easily be related to your break-up with your boyfriend. A year-long relationship doesn't just go away overnight; you most likely are experiencing anxiety over the loss.

Do you normally feel secure when in a relationship and unsure what to do when you are not in one? This feeling of uncertainty and impending disaster (when no one is around for you to lean on) could have been coming out in your dream.

I don't think we can read too much into the specific details of the dream -- like I said earlier, the mind tends to "cannibalize" our daily experiences in order to create a story expressing our anxieties / concerns, which the brain then tries to process.

So some of the elements are there more for the feelings they cause in you, rather than because they are specifically related.

But my guess (without knowing more) is that you are concerned about your relationship with your son, feel you can't "keep up" with him / that you're out of control of that relationship, that this is frightening / dangerous to you, and you're alone now and don't know what to do and fear what could happen (i.e., you might "lose" your son).

How to deal? It depends mostly on the specifics of your fear about your son.

In general, you must determine exactly why you feel he's slipping away from you or why you feel you can't keep up with him.

Accept that you ARE scared and are not sure what to do, and that many people are in that boat as a parent and that it's okay for you to feel that way.

Find a way to discuss this with your son in a way that encourages you both to be on "the same side." Get advice/help from others who know you, or whom you can ask specific questions of.

I don't think it would be uncommon for a single mom to be unsure of how to deal with her son whenever he begins to be very independent (i.e., teenager) and not just a kid anymore.

For a long time, you could mother him easily; now he is pushing away, challenging you, searching for his identity, and you probably don't know how to parent him any more and are afraid of messing up / losing him. And you are also "alone," without a bf or husband to tough it out with you. That's rough.

So that is some of the advice I would seek out, from counselors or from moms you know with older kids. How did they manage to deal with their child's growing independence and the fears that come along with it?

Take care. Be brave and push ahead, getting what help and encouragement you need.

Answer 7

prob means that ur just worried about breaking up with ur boyfriend...ur worried about things to come...my interpretation is that the pool and the swimming and the drowning has to do with being singel and that ur afraid to be alone...but u have to be alone to fully get over someone once thats done then u can move on

Answer 8

Maybe it means that what you may first see as an innocent and friendly, trustworthy person in your life, can actually be a shark in disguise, and that you need to be careful before you dive into your next relationship.

Answer 9

I guess cause you are still grieving over your breakup with your boyfriend it's got you all in a tizzy you are having nightmares. It probably doesn't mean anything serious. But it sounds like you are really upset.

Answer 10

actually you don't have to read too much in to dreams. generally they come when we are under a bit of stress. they will go away in due time. i know some dreams are unpleasant. i used to get recurring unpleasant dreams. but they usually go on their on.