This was a dream question sent to me for answer: If you’d like a chance for your dream question to be answered find out more about the The Dream Download™ here. This topic also features in my book Answers In The Dark: Grief, Sleep and How Dreams Can Help You Heal.
“I keep having a recurring dream that I’m back at school taking an exam. In the dream, I’m not expecting to take a test and I’m not ready for it. What does that mean?”
School, college and university are all part of our formative years. It’s where we spent time growing up, forming friendships, developing our outlook. What happens during those learning years might help shape who we become.
Dreaming of being back at school can reflect a period of learning. It might be that something happening in your life right now has been a “learning curve”, and you’ve learned something about yourself, someone else or life itself – it could be a metaphor for what some may see as a “life lesson” (not that we needed it, just that’s the language we use). It might be that you’re making changes, or thinking about going back to school, starting a new qualification or a change of career.
How you experienced school will also influence how you interpret this dream. If school was a happy time, you might find the dream is taking you back to good times, and the feeling of being carefree again. If school was difficult, ask yourself why you might be having this dream again now. What’s happened that would remind you subconsciously of the time you were at school. Perhaps you’re feeling the same pressure now, as you did back then.
Taking exams in dreams often presents itself the way described above – not knowing about it and not feeling ready. This can mirror how life can be – something happens we’re not ready for and not prepared for how we might cope with it, or what the outcome or results might be.
Dreams like this can symbolise the stress you experienced when you were back at school, especially around exam time. The dream can serve to remind you that you’re getting stressed again maybe as you did back then, and so it’s time to start managing what’s getting on top of you.
It can also be a common dream if you’re working to tight deadlines, or who are busy with other things that have a time pressure. It can symbolise trying to keep on top of everything, and then something comes out of the blue which adds to what you’re already doing. And of course if you’re a teacher, it could reflect your waking life for you too.
It may also be that you feel you’re being tested by life. If lots has happened, and you’re being pushed emotionally to the limits, talking it through with someone can be helpful. You may also find keeping a dream diary useful (I offer a template in my book Answers In The Dark), as we may start to notice patterns and see clues as to why you have this dream when you do. See more on this below.
Top tips for School and Exam Dreams
- Have a think about how stressed you are and what positive changes you can make to help you relax. Having a good bedtime routine (there is also a Sleep Cycle Repair kit in Answers In The Dark) which includes a warm bath and a relaxation technique can be useful.
- Consider whether you’ve been going through a period of learning. What are you feeling tested by? These can provide insights as to the meaning of your dream.
- Try keeping a dream diary. You might find you have this dream because of something that’s regularly happening in your life at the time.
Delphi is the author of Answers In The Dark: Grief, Sleep and How Dreams Can Help You Heal, out now on Amazon and Hive. The Dreams Maven™ is part of the Helping You Sparkle™ portfolio. You might also like Monday Mojo™.
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The 4 am Mystery: That’s an actual thing by the way. Even before a global health crisis, people found themselves awake in the middle of the night. Answers In The Dark aims to join the dots between sleep, dreams and our mental health, specifically how grief shows up, even if no one has died.
It explores some of the Big Myths of sleep, offers a Sleep Cycle Repair Kit and tips on how to decode your own dreams. Out now on Amazon and Hive.
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Got a Dream Question?
Are you having a recurring dream? Do you have a question about a particular symbol that you’d like to explore (because dream dictionaries and Google can’t always help)? You might like The Dream Download™.
If you’d like a more in-depth exploration of a dream, take a look at blip. below.
Please note this content may also appear elsewhere as promotional material for Answers In The Dark.
© Delphi Ellis All rights reserved.
The Dreams Maven ™ 
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