An old friend once told me that it was boring to have to listen to people talk about their dreams, because they’re really only interesting to the person who dreamed them. So, apologies in advance.
Lots of people have recurring dreams involving teeth falling out, taking a test you forgot to study for, or – according to Dr. Oz – “filthy, clogged or unusable toilets.” (Gotta say, never heard of that last one, Dr. O.) But the only recurring dream I have involves houses and finding rooms that either A) I didn’t know where there in the first place or B) had once known about but since forgotten.
Sometimes I’m living in an older house, and I discover this enormous kitchen I forgot existed. Other times it’s a spacious bathroom with a claw-foot tub that’s raised up on a platform. I don’t read too much into these dreams, as I live in a small-ish three-bedroom ranch house with a kitchen that’s too small for someone who likes to cook/bake and only one postage stamp-sized bathroom that is always occupied by my husband at the exact moment I need to use it.
But other times, I’m stumbling upon entire wings of my house. I find rooms with exposed brick, rooms with huge windows that flood the room with natural light, rooms you climb many stairs to get to, new rooms tucked away behind other rooms used regularly.
If you research what “new rooms in house” dreams mean, most people say it’s really about you, that you are the house and that the rooms you’re discovering are actually representative of parts of yourself/your psyche. How do you feel about these rooms? the dream analysts ask.
I’ll tell you: I am never once afraid in these dreams. I am always amazed, awed, and excited. I see so many possibilities! I can’t wait to start using these new rooms!
So now, when I wake up from one of these dreams, I wonder: what exactly am I so jazzed to discover about myself? What new facets or capabilities am I uncovering or about to uncover?
Last night, for instance: I dreamed of finding an extra hallway/nook space on the first floor of a multi-floored house. It was longer than it was wide, and there was a small dining table and chairs at one end, nestled near the staircase that led to the second floor. On the opposite end, there was a short fridge and floating shelves, one of which contained a hot dog roaster. (For some reason, there were fresh sausages on there.) The left side of the space was taken up by a large sliding glass door; across from that, adjacent to the short-fridge-floating-shelves wall, sat a tall fridge (stocked with food that wasn’t rotten) and a sink. On the floor – or, rather, in the floor – there was a rectangular charcoal roasting pit. At some point in the dream, another couple showed up (we were apparently sharing parts of the house with them) and started cooking two legs of lamb.
Other random tidbits:
- There was a backpack that had been left behind, ostensibly by the house’s previous owners, that had a folder tucked in it. The folder contained a black and white photo of Robert Smith (yes, that Robert Smith) and it was autographed. I am not some rabid Cure fan so I have no idea why he made a guest appearance in this particular dream.
- The light switch on the wall with the short fridge made the room dark and then dance with neon green strobe lights. “It’s a party room!” I declared in the dream. “We need to throw a party!”
- We lived in a brick building that used to house a school. At one point in the dream, Joe and I parked on the hill and I saw an old sign with the school’s name and said, “Oh my god, this used to be a school. Well, it makes sense why there’s a big ol’ library in the middle of it.” The library looked like a cross between my high school library and the one from The Breakfast Club.
I don’t have any great theories as to why I had this particular dream. I just find it really interesting that out of all of the possible recurring dreams one can have, this is mine.
Do you have any recurring dreams? What do those dreams say about you?
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