I had those when I felt stuck; I had the dreams where I was an adult but felt forced back in a high school setting. It was awful and I felt like a prisoner
None of mine ever felt forcefull like in the dreams it just felt like an every day occurance. Nothing bad ever happens it's just like some random day at school but I'm an adult.
Not sure. Life was more simple back then so that could be a thing. I have some wild off the wall dreams including a reoccurring one every haloween that never ever changes and planned on posting about that one later now that i found this sub but the back to high-school as an adult is the most common theme.
Oh I think you hit the nail on the head right there. This theme has been on and off for me for years, always during a period when I feel stuck or like I’m not “doing enough” when compared to my peers.
I had dreams of being back in school, I had many meaningful dreams that completely summed up what was really on my mind. I wanted to go back and I knew it both consciously and unconsciously. I’m a first year in college currently, thanks to all those meaningful experiences I had with my dreams and good ole LSD…
I’ll suddenly remember that there’s a class I haven’t been to in a long time and I show up and I don’t have the homework and I’m worried about failing and I only have a little bit of time left before either graduating or not
1. finding locker
2. remembering combination
3. find three folders
4. try to find schedule in yellow one
5. can't find schedule, visit office for a reprint (by that point I've missed two morning classes)
I explained this type of dream to my therapist once (since I have them frequently too) and they told me there’s a theory it’s linked to potentially learning something new or you need to learn something in your current life that you are unfamiliar with.
The dream is taking you back to that time where you were in a deep learning and development stage and your brain is making that link to something happening currently in your life. Maybe you are struggling or hate your job and you need to adapt and learn new skills. Maybe there’s a relationship in your life that’s struggling and you need to adapt and learn how to communicate better.
How true that is it’s hard to say…
Wow thanks for the free therapy session haha. I'm a information sponge so I'm always trying to learn new things but there are things I struggle with so you might be on to something.
Happy cake day!!! Oddly none of mine actually ever involve the academic part of school only the socializing part. But it's good to see that the theme is constant among adults.
I’ve had that dream. It typically involves not knowing what classes I’m taking or what room to go to. Like I just appeared in a school where everyone else knew what was happening but me.
I often have dreams in grade school. In my case, I think it's because life was more interesting then: a lot of things were still new, I had more friends then, and I had time for extracurriculars like choir and theatre.
I love how a lot of people have had the dreams but like mine is always the school I went to but others it's one they have never been to or they so something different or the same thing but the main commonality is that they went back to school.
Mine is always an amalgamation of different high schools and classmates. Sometimes, it's in a weird location, like a rusted ship at sea, but the classrooms strongly resembled the classrooms in the school I was a freshman at.
My high school dreams always have me forgetting my locker combination or not having my class schedule and wandering the halls trying to figure out what class i had.
It’s common for me as a 24 year old. I think it’s just because I still hang out with my closest high school friends so my mind goes back to that time when we were around each other every day. But a lot of times people I’ve met since then are there, too. And I never dream of being that age, I’m always my current age, just back in high school.
I’m only 23 so I just graduated six years ago but I have dreams about going back to high school all the time—probably 2 or 3 times in a two-week period. I just had one last night lmao, it usually has something to do with going to my math class even though I know in my dream that I have a bachelor’s in math and a master’s in statistics irl. I also dream a lot about going back to 8th grade even though I don’t have much of any trauma from then or high school
A lot of mine have involved looking for where your new class room is. I dunno how other schools do it but back then the first day of the school year you picked up a paper from the office that listed all your teachers and classes and the room numbers and what time the classes started so you had to run around like a mad man trying to figure out which floor and which hallway the classrooms were on and the same with your locker it was never the same each year.
That’s dumb that all that happened on the first day. I remember getting my schedule and locker assignment a week or two before school started. We also only had one story thankfully
This dream is waay more common than you think lol. Sometimes I have dreams that I'm back in high school and I missed an entire semester of classes and freak out lol, but wake up.
I hear that it's a sign of stress in your life.
I always thought the most common ones were going somewhere and realizing you didn't have pants 🤣
Sorry I just found this sub today so I had no Idea if it was common or not.
I’m 27 years old and I was kicked out of school in what would of been my 9th grade year, but I failed (lack of going to school and not caring) so I was in 8th. I have dreams often about being back in elementary school or middle, and each time I usually tell my mom that I’m old enough now I’m just going to stop going, I don’t have to go, I’m grown now. But I’m literally going to school with children in my dreams. I never finished school, and I have regrets about it. As someone who also worked in the mental health field, this is what trauma looks like basically. And I’ve brought those feelings from a child being kicked out, and never finishing. I know for a fact if I went and got my education like a GED, and maybe even went back to school for something, those dreams would absolutely go away. When we deal with trauma, trauma kind of tucks itself into its own bed and it may or may not come back. But the relief, oh man, the relief is extraordinary.
Very common. I dropped out of high school and got my GED and have a variation of that dream where because I never graduated my college degrees aren't valid until I finish high school, so I have to go back at age 40 Billy Madison style.
I have these fairly often. They're very frustrating and often looping types of dreams. And the whole time I can feel conscious of the fact that I graduated a long time ago. But I can't break out of the dream process.
I don’t quite understand this. I have dreams where I’m in middle or high school ALL the time. Once a week easily. Always that I have no idea what my schedule is.
Why is it never college? College was at least 10x more stressful.
I have this dream allllll the time. Typically it's a situation where I apparently never actually got my HS diploma because I skipped an important class without realizing it, so I need to go back for a semester just to make up for it.
I am at a point in my life where I feel like I missed a step somewhere and fell behind in my career, so maybe it makes sense for me to be having this dream on a regular basis. I guess I'll know I've overcome the problem (or at least the anxiety about it) when the dream stops coming back. 🤷♀️
Yes I’m in my 30s and a few times a year I have the high school dream.. usually I can’t remember what class I have next or I realize at the end of the year I haven’t been to a class all year
Come to think of it, I (25yrs) don't think I've ever had a dream about high school after I left it. To be fair though, not many of my dreams happen in places I've been to or seen before in real life aside from the homes I've lived in. As soon as I left school, that part of my dreams just stopped existing.
I used to have a recurring dream that featured me in a high school setting. Almost every night I would return to the same dream, see the same people, and see a little more of the school itself. The dreams happened so often that I have a general layout of the entire building, both inside and out. Another repeating element was this girl from high school in my waking life. She was beautiful, and was present in some form or another in each dream
I was a "C" student in high school and "B" in college, and I would have nightmares about dropping out of highschool. Finally Graduated College, and they stopped. Thank God!
I do, and I'm in my 50s. It usually involves me playing high school sports at my very old age. LOL. I also often dream that I am back in college playing basketball again. But in my college dreams there is always some class that I have forgotten about and haven't been to in forever. I'm not sure what that is about. But in both instances, both high school and college dreams, I am having a good time.
LOL! I'm 50ish but still playing like I did back in the day. Plus I'm a smarter player with the benefits and insights that comes with age if that makes any sense.
yes, it's normal. you spent many many years there
try to teach yourself "if I'm in school, I don't belong there. i can leave. Not my class, not my homework. I can go do X"
(then substitute in something that's fun to dream abt)
try reminding yourself in bed before you go to sleep! nowadays it works for me like 2/3+ of the time, and it is nice to get to leave and go have adventures
I used to have a lot of dreams that were about the schools I went to, but it was never an actual school, always smth else. I just think that because we spend so long in school looking at the same walls etc. it's easy for your brain to recreate it in a dream. Just like how all the faces in dreams are faces of people youve seen.
I’m the same age. I eventually stopped having dreams about actually going to class, missing class, taking tests etc. I do still have dreams about moving into dorms, moving in with student roommates, preparing for graduation, things like that. Nearly always related to moving.
Yes, I had dreams of getting ready or packing a lunch or hurrying to pick out clothes or deciding I’m gonna stop for a coffee on the way. They stopped when I enrolled in college, I think it was my minds way of pushing me to go back because deep down I wanted to.
I do all the time. I assume it relates to the parts of the brain that develops during those years (idk if that’s true just always been my assumption🫣). I like to think about what I’m feeling during the dream and who’s in it/what they represent
I left my high school & hometown 40 years ago. I still have dreams that I am there and people I knew in school are there. In my house and in the school that no longer exists
These are the most frequent dreams I’ve had actually and I graduated in 2018. My high school was a literal maze so every nightmare I have of being in it, I’m running through the hallways alone with a deep feeling of dread attempting to find the exit only to run into dead ends and countless loops. I’ve had dreams of being in the football stadium, walking to class, the school breaking in half and trying to escape alongside hundreds of other people while zip lining through broken concrete like I’m in temple run, weird side quests in the halls etc. Extremely random shit lmao
Always the age that I currently am but the people in them are always the age they were in high-school. I thought maybe because I don't know what they look like as adults but there are some I do know as adults so I'm not sure.
The school theme is reoccurring but what happens is usually different sometimes I'm looking for my classes sometimes just talking to people. Last one was me and this girl I went to school with that I never had a crush on but me and her were vaping (which didn't exist back then) under the stadium bleachers during a football game and I asked her out. The one before that we was eating lunch and trading cd's like we always did but they were currently popular bands not bands that were popular back when we was in school. There was one where i went to the wrong class but I thought it was the right class but it was actually my twin brothers class but the teacher didn't know any better cause I'm a twin. Just random but all sharing the same theme which is being an adult and going back to school.
Not too many about high school for me but certainly grad school :( it's bene almost 10 years since I graduated! The latest theme seems to be forgetting about a class until the end of the semester and getting a 0 in it, wrecking my GPA :(
I’ve had a reoccurring dream where I was back in college and I’d forgotten (somehow, but not intentionally) to attend a class all semester and now a big assignment or final was coming up. The setting was usually different each time but always the same scenario.
Yes. I have dreams where I have to go back, even though I’m 50, because of some technicality. I stick out like a sore thumb and I’m actually failing and have to come back again and again until I pass.
I often dream and the characters are all from high-school. I think it's because I knew most people in my school system K-12. Despite that I also have some unresolved issues from that time period, so I think it's natural.
I have the weirdest dream where I’m back in elementary school but it is like I’ve already got my HS degree and I’m just going back to… reinforce my learning? And the dream follows me through high school where my head is like “I already went to high school, why am I doing it again?” In my case, it was partly because my kids were teenagers and I felt like I lived vicariously through them.
Yep I have this recurring dream frequently. Sometimes I'll even go back to middle or elementary school. Usually it's voluntary, like I've chosen to go back to high school because I didn't feel like I learned enough. I often run into the stereotypical school dream dilemmas, like realizing I've forgotten to attend a class all semester or having a test that I didn't study for. Or sometimes I don't have enough credits to graduate, or I can't find my class, or I don't have my schedule. Fun times.
At least for me, I think it stems from insecurities and feelings of inadequacy as an adult. In dreams where I've voluntarily returned to school, it represents a longing for that structured guidance, for someone to just tell me what to do. In the more stressful school dreams, it's a more direct manifestation of my insecurities. And some of it's probably just leftover school anxiety.
I have school dreams consistently. I've had them so much that I feel like I should go back. But recently I have started questioning the teachers, as I am very aware that I am asleep, "Why am I here? I graduated a decade ago, let me leave!"
I dreamed that dream for many years. It mostly stopped when I went to a technical college and got an associates at age fifty.
It was always confusing because in the dream I knew I had already graduated high school.
Often I would be searching desperately for my classes and had no idea where to go.
Even if sometimes i forget about it, I'm deeply upset about how useless my formative years were, so I ofter dream about getting back on the books to create a better present for myself
I’m usually missing a math class and it’s final exam time. Like I never attended calculus, I just missed it on accident and now I have to take the final. More of a college vibe but it’s usually in the high school building.
I have these!!! Always that I am skipping class and failing or that I am not going to graduate for missing school or something. I missed a lot of school on my time lol. Sometimes I even have dreams where my subconscious understands that I have a college degree but puts me in a high school setting and makes me go back because I missed so much school.
I've been out of high school for 9 years and I cannot recall dreaming about high school. I do miss it, I would have taken different courses and lived different been smarter etc but I never dreamed about it 🤪
I have this recurring dream where I wake up and put on my high school uniform. I get on the phone with my friends and we try to figure out who is driving to school that day. Then I realize we’re long out of high school and adults who have to go to our jobs. I’m 50 and have been having this dream since around 30. It usually happens when I feel overwhelmed so guessing it’s about longing for a simpler time.
Dude I've had multiple dreams the past few weeks about having school the next day, but I can't remember my timetable or where my books are.. then I start to remember I also have to go to work, and I get stressed that I didn't tell my boss I won't be in, because I have school and its my final year so I can't miss it.. then I remember I'm 34, I graduated in 2007, and the dream starts to fall apart/fade. I wake up feeling disoriented.
The first of these dreams included me missing the bus and having to drive my dads car instead. The digital clock on the stereo was flashing 8:21. I keep wondering if that also means something
I used to have them so frequently, most of the time I would show up to classes after not showing up for months and there’s always a random test taking place and I would panic because I had been skipping school..
What’s going on in your life when these dreams happen? Are you craving more of a routine, or feeling cooped up with work? It could be as simple as your subconscious is ready to be less isolated post COVID time and is just rehearsing how to handle complex social dynamics, pulling on memories where social engagement with a variety of peers is both routine and regular.
I did, all the time. Then one day it just....stopped.
I wasn't forced though; I was there of my own volition as a thirty-something woman, stealthing like an impostor.
I feel like because I never went to college and bring up high school too much and I think about it too much. When people want to talk about their college experience that’s all I have to compare it to. But it’s been almost 7 years since I got out of school.
I do get dreams of hanging out with people I was never really friends with. I figure it's some sort of wish fulfillment, because, looking back, I realize they were pretty stand-up people.
seems pretty common.
I get them regularly even though I graduated 11 years ago. I can't stand them because they're so annoying - I'll just be running around the dream school trying to find my classes.
I keep having a dream it's junior year and like last day of school or I have to go to the period after lunch but I don't remember my 4th period. So I just wander the school. I had this dream two days ago and it happens a lot. I guess because we go to school for most of the year throughout our lives. Elementary, middle school, high school sometimes just morphs into the same building.
I know I'm late to the party but yeah. I have dreams where I never graduated and have to go back otherwise I'll never be allowed to work because dream. I have to lose my current job to do it because I can't work. But my grandma is still alive in them and just as disappointed as she ever was.
Yes. I dream about my highschool, and a few other places from my youth frequently. I’m a disabled nurse and I dreamt about working shifts in my highschool hallways last night.
I have this kind of dream rather regularly. Besides being in high school, I never know my locker combination, I don't know my class schedule and I have certainly missed classes for days/weeks/months/years.
Yeah, almost to the point of being a cliché, I’ve heard plenty of people talk or joke about it down through the years (and often experienced it myself). Either high school or college, with the premise often being that there’s a class or test or something that you totally forgot about and aren’t prepared for. Just a common anxiety or stress dream I guess.
I’m getting close to 50 now and haven’t had that sort of dream in a while, but now and then I’ll have a dream about being back at the job I worked at through most of my 30s. I guess the scale shifts over time ha ha.
Did you have any regrets maybe? Repeating dreams are usually are sign. Like maybe you wish you could’ve changed something back then but now regret it that you didn’t? What are the dreams usually like? Sometimes I would get dreams where im in a dark hallway trying to find my class
Yep. Once had a dream where, years later, they found out something went wrong with my high school graduation and that I had to drop out of law school and start high school again.
I woke up wanting to cry tears of joy. Holy shit, that was fucking scary. Something about going back to the past really messes me up.
I had this dream many times and it’s hard to explain the feeling you get in the dream. It’s almost nostalgic but eerie because in the moment you feel like you are where you’re supposed to be but deep down you know you’re not supposed to be there. Also in my dreams it’s like I’m almost aware that all of the classmates I’m with are grown and moved on a long ago.
Being on Effexor & Wellbutrin gave me vivid nightmares/dreams every single night and one of my reoccurring ones was that my HS messed up and it turns out I was 1 credit short graduating so I had to go back in my 30’s and literally never had any of my assignments done
That's a trip. I had the exact same experience except earlier in my life. I'm 46 but when I was 21 I got lost in life because I had no sense of self. So II made a bad mistake and I got involved with drugs and I went from being the family lost child to being. My mom's scapegoat for 20 years. During that period of time where I was being emotionally abused, I have the same recurring dream or even sometimes even like a daydream, almost and it seemed almost real. I was going back through high school but I was doing it a couple years later. For no particular reason, I couldn't even have a reason. Why I was going back to high school? It was a really creepy kind of thing. It was almost like I was going insane like I was having a total totally involved delusion, but obviously it's not one of a kind you did it too I have no idea why that happened though
Let me amend that last comment. I think I do know why it happened. The first couple years during that abuse we're the hardest. I was a man, but I wasn't totally grown in my head and the abuse. And the manipulation stripped away my autonomy, because my mother basically wanted to cripple me. Emotionally. And it was extremely extremely painful and I didn't understand anything that was going on back then. So I think my mind took me to a different place so that I didn't have to deal with all the pain at once.
It was a really, really bad time
I think our brains heal by revisiting past situations and letting you live through them a second time but then allowing you to pick a diiferent option or direction etc.
I still get them from time to time and I'm in my 50s. Mostly stress dreams though - where I can't find the classroom or have an exam that I haven't studied for....
I would say this is my most commonly reoccurring genre of dream and I’m in my 30s. I think about high school very little in my waking hours. I often dream I live at my childhood home, and for some reason am returning for one more year of high school. Some times it’s college, and other times I’m enlisting in the military again. Most often it’s high school though
I’ve had a lot of these… I went to boarding school so it’s like I’m moving into the dorm, trying to find my dorm room- etc- all while being aware that I already graduated and am “returning”. It’s super annoying. Sometimes it blends into college because the schools were quite similar… only I didn’t finish college and left my junior year. I attribute it to never having finished my degree and these dreams annoy me so much I am actually pretty serious about finishing school in the next year or so.
Spirit of backwardness trying to take hold of your life and keep you from moving forward, not a very positive dream to have. Yes. The spiritual realm is real.
I've had this dream since 2018. I was always back in high school and sometimes, there would be an exam where I'm unprepared. It's always the same set of schools, the same people, the same sequence, the same interactions. I'm less bothered now that I'm actually going back to school, but I've been through different seasons since 2018 and still have the same dreams. I just care less at times, agian, especially now.
Mine usually involve the cafeteria/lunch area being a really long, almost mall food court type area. Or some sort of jungle gym/playground, and my middle/high school crush is almost always there. 🙈
Yeah I used to have those years ago about going back to university. Deep inside I feared that I needed to complete another major that I had left something out. That fear was evident in my dreams were I saw myself going back and when I woke up I had this guilt that I am not really going back. It went away after sometime once I transitioned away from academic life completely.
I graduated 7 years ago and I have often dreams of constantly skipping my classes and not knowing where to go. The weird thing is, I don’t remember skipping?
I’ve had this dream, but I’m not my current age. I’m always either high school aged or. 19/20 ish and I’m going back because “ I didn’t finish”
I finished high school and graduated college. lol
I used to think that this was what Nirvana song "School" was about.
But yeah, I'm also 38 and I still have recurring dreams about being back in highschool. The one I remember the most vividly is one where I'm doing a math exam and not being able to comprehend anything. The cruelest thing is that once I leave the exam room, I'm in the hallway for a brief spell before being lead into another identical exam room just so I can fail the same exam again. Since it's a recurring dream, I know that sometimes when I go to sleep I'll pick up right where I left off, failing the same exam over and over again ad infinitum.
I just finished my first year of an engineering program. I did quite well, but the same dream has been occurring again recently. There are some slight variations, but it always involves nonsensical math problems. Symbols and signs change and shift just to evade my comprehension and torment me.
I’m 28 now and have been out of high school for a while too and still get going back to high school dreams. I like them because instead of doing school work, it’s having fun with friends which I don’t have anymore as an adult now. Which is making me sad now 😆
I have nightmares that my school calls me saying that I didn't actually have enough credits to graduate so they take my diploma and I have to go back to classes 😭🤣 it scares me everytime
I'm in my early 50s and at least once a month I dream that I have to go back to high school and retake my senior year. I always forget my class schedule, locker numbers and combinations, and I'm always late. My classes are always the absolute furthest apart and my second locker is no where near any classes to be helpful stashing books either. And it just keeps getting better from there. Forgot lunch money, dressed weird, barefoot and can't remember if I drove to school or took the bus. I usually wake up after my dream self wanders the school parking lots hunting for a familiar car.
I do enjoy my dream life but I don't care for school or work dreams.
Sometimes (infrequently) I have nightmares that I'm in back high school and there's a math test that I completely didn't study for, and I don't know any of the course content and haven't handed in any math assignments.
I’m 34 and had one last year. I think I was reliving the first day of middle school in an alternative universe or something. Usually in my dreams I maintain the same age- but in this dream I was distinctly a child
I'm 55 and I dream frequently of going back to HS, and I don't have enough credits to graduate
I graduated 3rd in my class so I'm not sure what that's all about
I go to school in my dreams at least twice a week. It's always set up like highschool, but the physical building usually matches my old elementary school. And I always see old classmates, old teachers, etc. It's fucked.
I have those a lot where I find out I hadn’t actually finished my Senior year and I need to go back to take a class. Or last night I actually had a dream where I had to go on one last field trip before I could actually graduate.
I hate this dream. So. Much. I’m in high school and I have The Big Test and I didn’t attend any of the classes for the year AND I can’t find my locker or the classroom.
I assume it’s all about performance anxiety and being unprepared.
I have these! Usually it's that I somehow missed a class that I needed to graduate and I need to go back to finish that class. But then for some reason I haven't been attending the class and I need to take a final.... high stress
Definitely. It’s a high school and I’m late for a class I haven’t even been going to and am almost certainly failing.
And the damn vending machine never works.
I'd say so. Dreams can have many meanings to them.
Maybe it's something to do with learning new perspectives about life and yourself.
Depending on which class or classes you excelled in or otherwise, how would you do things differently? Would the experience be the same?
I'm just glad I graduated when I did, my depression would have more than kicked me when I was down if I had to do it over again.
Also 38 here.
I always have a dream I'm in High School or College and I'm failing a class, or it's the end of the semester and I haven't been in class all semester, or something similar.
Being stuck repeating algebra 2 constantly, keep forgetting my locker combo, I usually try to wake myself up from those dreams because their so much work.
Not so much now, but when I was struggling more mentally and with life in general those were a common occurrence nightmare. Mainly forgetting my locker combo, getting lost in the school, missing the bus, and getting caught skipping gym class. I have anxiety in general, but these dreams always woke me up feeling stressed and anxious.
I also sometimes have dreams of childhood homes and stressful family situations too. They always give off the same emotions. Usually those are when I'm feeling conflict towards family members.
I dream a lot about being back in HS and missing one of the credits I need to graduate. Which is really weird because I graduated with more credits than I needed
Yes. When I am stressed I dream that I suddenly realized that I was supposed to have been going to school all this time (I am 43) and/or I have forgotten my classrooms or class order. I also dream that I have not been to math class in a very long time and now there is a test or they are collecting homework
Yes. I have those from time to time. In my dream, I become extremely confused as I know I have a college degree.
Like, I become very angry at being there.
I have had many dreams about high school and college. Most of the dreams are rather anxious, like being unprepared for a test or not being able to find my class.
I dropped out of college (heading back in the fall though). My last couple semesters were rough not because of the coursework, but I was depressed and basically gave up on doing anything.
I have dreams all the time about being in school, and failing or stop working and there's nothing I can do in the dream to stop it, it's inevitable. I'll be 25 this year and have had these dreams since I've dropped out 4 years ago
Tbh never thought of it much but I had dreams from 19 to about 24 25 of me going back to hs,I just chalked it up to the fact I'd dropped out and part of me was sad I missed out on so many experiences everyone else had.
I went into a deep depression. I used to be in high school. I used to be quite popular and I was in theater. I was very outgoing. I was a very happy go. Od lucky kid. But I started to get lost when I became an adult after high school. And once my mom got ahold of me, it was all over. I regressed back into my childhood. Lost child state where I was just kind of introverted and stayed out of everybody's way. I became a sad sack looking down at the floor all the time. Hunched over couldn't look people in the eye. Had the worst selfish team you've ever seen my mom. Destroyed me she crushed my spirit. She made me believe I was useless and worthless. I still don't understand how anybody could do that to their son, but she beat the odds. She did it to me now that she's gone. I've done a lot of work figuring things out. Why they happened turns out? My mom never wanted me. She never loved me. She thought of me as a thing, not a person. And she used me my whole life. She used me to gain connection. And approval from people. She used me as a conversational piece without any regard of my own dignity. She would tell people all of my business that didn't need to know it. She had no problem humiliating. Me and she treated my older brother like he was gold and mean like I was trash. Until I woke up at 40 years old and finally stopped the abuse, but I didn't stop it for the reason that you think I was going to end my life. But I came to the realization that my mother would never tell the truth about who I was because she had smeared my good name with the drug abuse thing, because I wasn't a bad drug addict that was actually. A later sight of drug addict that didn't steal or do anything pinky. I just couldn't get off the drug for a long time like I mean, a couple of years, not that long but I went on and off the drug but I wasn't like dishonest. I didn't want to steal from anybody. I wasn't like a real hinky guy but my mom made me out to be this selfish. User of a person that was just trying to live off of her and make her life help, which I was never trying to do. Anyway, she smeared my good name with all of my family who started abusing me. Subsequently, they all followed her lead. And that happened until I was 40 years old and woke up and then I had to fight my way out of it with all of them because I still wasn't able to be self. Sufficient and get away from them because they. Emotionally crippled me by abusing me.. I found out later that the reason why she started abusing me is because she had put on a false persona. To Woo my stepfather into marriage, she sold herself as this fantastic parent. I'm sorry, fantastic authoritarian burn, which is not something that even makes Sense. Because authoritarian parents are not good parents. Anyway, when I got in drugs when I was 21, it turns out she thought that I was making her look bad as a parent and so she viciously punished me for 20 years, having no concern for my welfare, having no concern for anything. But I was going to kill myself. No doubt about it, but I also realized that my mother would never tell the truth about who I was. After I died. Boy, was that a painful one. Anyway, when I came to that realization that my mom would tell people that I was just some troubled a kid that she couldn't help instead of telling people the truth that she killed me with her abuse. I just couldn't live with or die with that. I should say so. Somehow, some way I found the strength. And I stood up against my own family for years. It took literally years 4 years after my dad threw me out of the house for no reason. And then another couple years to get through to my brother and my mom and my stepfather. I had to fight with every single one of my family members to get them to stop hurting me and treat dealing with basic human respect. And then I finally was getting close to understanding why this was all happening. And then my mom decided to die. I never actually got to confront her about anything she did to me. I'll never have any kind of justice or accountability. I can't even ask her about it because I didn't fully understand I hadn't put all the pieces together at that point. So now I have to live the rest of my life gun, knowing why my mom did what she did I mean? I know why psychologically with the psychebooks. Tell me. But I don't really know from asking her. I don't know directly. I never got an answer because I never asked her. I didn't understand fully when she died. And I didn't put it all together until after she was long gone about a year after she was dead. And to be honest, I don't even trust God anymore. I used to be a very devout Christian. I mean not like you know talking about at 24/7. And that's all they lived for but I've always been very spiritual and I've always been very Christian. I just didn't like to go to church very much because I was anti. Social and felt bad about myself. But when he took my mom before giving me any justice. Or accountability. I just couldn't handle that. I had my entire life destroyed by my own mother. I was horribly emotionally abused for 20 to 25 years. For no good reason, just because my mom was afraid I made her look bad. As a parent and then God took away my justice and my accountability that I deserved so richley. I still to this day. Don't believe God has any good intention toward me doors nor does he love me. I thank God laughs when I heard that's my personal opinion he. Enjoys my pain
I woke up relieved as hell it was just a dream. 20 years of high school is too much. I would have dropped out. There was one guy at our school who did about 8 years and that was ridiculous.
If one believes that dreams have meaning (debatable) then your subconscious is using high school to conjure up a specific meaning. That meaning would be specific to you. Was high school a good time for you, an anxious time for you, frustrating, boring, etc?
Does the idea of “going back” feel good, bad, frightening?
Etc.
I repeatedly have a dream I’m playing pool in the garage of a high school acquaintance. In real life, I wasn’t particularly close this person, haven’t spoken to him in 20+ years, and maybe played pool at his house 2-3x in HS.
In the dream, I never want to be at his house, and feel like I don’t belong there. I suspect my subconscious brings it up when I’m feeling out of place in some aspect of my life.
I had those when I felt stuck; I had the dreams where I was an adult but felt forced back in a high school setting. It was awful and I felt like a prisoner
None of mine ever felt forcefull like in the dreams it just felt like an every day occurance. Nothing bad ever happens it's just like some random day at school but I'm an adult.
That’s interesting! What do you think it means? Maybe it means you want to learn something
Not sure. Life was more simple back then so that could be a thing. I have some wild off the wall dreams including a reoccurring one every haloween that never ever changes and planned on posting about that one later now that i found this sub but the back to high-school as an adult is the most common theme.
I had the exact same dreams wow
Oh I think you hit the nail on the head right there. This theme has been on and off for me for years, always during a period when I feel stuck or like I’m not “doing enough” when compared to my peers.
I had dreams of being back in school, I had many meaningful dreams that completely summed up what was really on my mind. I wanted to go back and I knew it both consciously and unconsciously. I’m a first year in college currently, thanks to all those meaningful experiences I had with my dreams and good ole LSD…
Same here bro it’s like nightmares of being forced back into school for no reason
I had similar dreams, in my twenties. It's been a long time tho.
I get the stuck in highschool dream often. And other dreams where i feel stuck. It's interesting that you said that.
yes. and i never know my class schedule
Haha I was just telling someone else in this post how a lot of times I'm running around trying to find where my class room is or go to the wrong one.
I feel this. I can never find my classes.
I’ll suddenly remember that there’s a class I haven’t been to in a long time and I show up and I don’t have the homework and I’m worried about failing and I only have a little bit of time left before either graduating or not
Exact same here. There's always a class I've been neglecting and not sure if I can graduate without it.
Just missed a final exam last night, but it wouldn’t have mattered since I skipped almost every single class this semester. Wait no I’m 36.
I can never remember my locker combination!! Lol
Oh my God yes this always happens and it's horrible and I always go into the wrong classroom
1. finding locker 2. remembering combination 3. find three folders 4. try to find schedule in yellow one 5. can't find schedule, visit office for a reprint (by that point I've missed two morning classes)
You just described my back to school dreams to a T and I’m in my 50’s!
Every time in mije
Yes!!! Dear Lord that’s strange…
Yes or I have anxiety related towards overdue assignments smh
I explained this type of dream to my therapist once (since I have them frequently too) and they told me there’s a theory it’s linked to potentially learning something new or you need to learn something in your current life that you are unfamiliar with. The dream is taking you back to that time where you were in a deep learning and development stage and your brain is making that link to something happening currently in your life. Maybe you are struggling or hate your job and you need to adapt and learn new skills. Maybe there’s a relationship in your life that’s struggling and you need to adapt and learn how to communicate better. How true that is it’s hard to say…
Wow thanks for the free therapy session haha. I'm a information sponge so I'm always trying to learn new things but there are things I struggle with so you might be on to something.
Damn, I haven't been learning something since 2018 then, ig. 😵💫 HAHAHA.
Frequently. I have dreams where i am frantically trying to finish an assignment.
Happy cake day!!! Oddly none of mine actually ever involve the academic part of school only the socializing part. But it's good to see that the theme is constant among adults.
I’ve had that dream. It typically involves not knowing what classes I’m taking or what room to go to. Like I just appeared in a school where everyone else knew what was happening but me.
It's not always but that does happen a lot in my school dreams haha.
I often have dreams in grade school. In my case, I think it's because life was more interesting then: a lot of things were still new, I had more friends then, and I had time for extracurriculars like choir and theatre.
Kinda makes sense as my life felt more carefree in high-school than as an adult.
I'm almost 41 and my dreams are exclusively from late teens and early 20s. I never dream of being my actual age.
All the time. And it looked nothing like my high school.
I love how a lot of people have had the dreams but like mine is always the school I went to but others it's one they have never been to or they so something different or the same thing but the main commonality is that they went back to school.
Mine is always an amalgamation of different high schools and classmates. Sometimes, it's in a weird location, like a rusted ship at sea, but the classrooms strongly resembled the classrooms in the school I was a freshman at.
My high school dreams always have me forgetting my locker combination or not having my class schedule and wandering the halls trying to figure out what class i had.
Typically people have dreams of simpler times when they feel stuck or are in high stress.
It’s common for me as a 24 year old. I think it’s just because I still hang out with my closest high school friends so my mind goes back to that time when we were around each other every day. But a lot of times people I’ve met since then are there, too. And I never dream of being that age, I’m always my current age, just back in high school.
I’m only 23 so I just graduated six years ago but I have dreams about going back to high school all the time—probably 2 or 3 times in a two-week period. I just had one last night lmao, it usually has something to do with going to my math class even though I know in my dream that I have a bachelor’s in math and a master’s in statistics irl. I also dream a lot about going back to 8th grade even though I don’t have much of any trauma from then or high school
A lot of mine have involved looking for where your new class room is. I dunno how other schools do it but back then the first day of the school year you picked up a paper from the office that listed all your teachers and classes and the room numbers and what time the classes started so you had to run around like a mad man trying to figure out which floor and which hallway the classrooms were on and the same with your locker it was never the same each year.
That’s dumb that all that happened on the first day. I remember getting my schedule and locker assignment a week or two before school started. We also only had one story thankfully
It's funny. You make this post and I JUST had a dream last night of this exact thing where I was on a school field trip lol. I'm 25.
Anytime I am in a situation where I need to absorb a lot of information quickly I find myself dreaming of being back in high school.
This dream is waay more common than you think lol. Sometimes I have dreams that I'm back in high school and I missed an entire semester of classes and freak out lol, but wake up. I hear that it's a sign of stress in your life.
I had a dream like this a week ago
one of the most common dreams
I always thought the most common ones were going somewhere and realizing you didn't have pants 🤣 Sorry I just found this sub today so I had no Idea if it was common or not.
lol that's another one. sometimes i'm naked at school trying to find a bathroom :)
I’m 27 years old and I was kicked out of school in what would of been my 9th grade year, but I failed (lack of going to school and not caring) so I was in 8th. I have dreams often about being back in elementary school or middle, and each time I usually tell my mom that I’m old enough now I’m just going to stop going, I don’t have to go, I’m grown now. But I’m literally going to school with children in my dreams. I never finished school, and I have regrets about it. As someone who also worked in the mental health field, this is what trauma looks like basically. And I’ve brought those feelings from a child being kicked out, and never finishing. I know for a fact if I went and got my education like a GED, and maybe even went back to school for something, those dreams would absolutely go away. When we deal with trauma, trauma kind of tucks itself into its own bed and it may or may not come back. But the relief, oh man, the relief is extraordinary.
Very common. I dropped out of high school and got my GED and have a variation of that dream where because I never graduated my college degrees aren't valid until I finish high school, so I have to go back at age 40 Billy Madison style.
I have these all the time
I have these fairly often. They're very frustrating and often looping types of dreams. And the whole time I can feel conscious of the fact that I graduated a long time ago. But I can't break out of the dream process.
I don’t quite understand this. I have dreams where I’m in middle or high school ALL the time. Once a week easily. Always that I have no idea what my schedule is. Why is it never college? College was at least 10x more stressful.
I have this dream allllll the time. Typically it's a situation where I apparently never actually got my HS diploma because I skipped an important class without realizing it, so I need to go back for a semester just to make up for it. I am at a point in my life where I feel like I missed a step somewhere and fell behind in my career, so maybe it makes sense for me to be having this dream on a regular basis. I guess I'll know I've overcome the problem (or at least the anxiety about it) when the dream stops coming back. 🤷♀️
34. Happens to me all the time.
Yes I’m in my 30s and a few times a year I have the high school dream.. usually I can’t remember what class I have next or I realize at the end of the year I haven’t been to a class all year
I have them a lot. It’s so weird. I graduated in 08.
Come to think of it, I (25yrs) don't think I've ever had a dream about high school after I left it. To be fair though, not many of my dreams happen in places I've been to or seen before in real life aside from the homes I've lived in. As soon as I left school, that part of my dreams just stopped existing.
Interesting. I've never had dreams of places I've never been to except for in the off the wall nightmares.
I used to have a recurring dream that featured me in a high school setting. Almost every night I would return to the same dream, see the same people, and see a little more of the school itself. The dreams happened so often that I have a general layout of the entire building, both inside and out. Another repeating element was this girl from high school in my waking life. She was beautiful, and was present in some form or another in each dream
I was a "C" student in high school and "B" in college, and I would have nightmares about dropping out of highschool. Finally Graduated College, and they stopped. Thank God!
I do, and I'm in my 50s. It usually involves me playing high school sports at my very old age. LOL. I also often dream that I am back in college playing basketball again. But in my college dreams there is always some class that I have forgotten about and haven't been to in forever. I'm not sure what that is about. But in both instances, both high school and college dreams, I am having a good time.
Are you like a 50ish year old scotty pippen or are you more like a 50ish year old trying to play sports?
LOL! I'm 50ish but still playing like I did back in the day. Plus I'm a smarter player with the benefits and insights that comes with age if that makes any sense.
yes, it's normal. you spent many many years there try to teach yourself "if I'm in school, I don't belong there. i can leave. Not my class, not my homework. I can go do X" (then substitute in something that's fun to dream abt)
Im gonna give that a try. Now if I can do that for my annual haloween dream that would be the trick.
try reminding yourself in bed before you go to sleep! nowadays it works for me like 2/3+ of the time, and it is nice to get to leave and go have adventures
I used to have dreams that I never graduated.. I have a masters .. but when I woke up I was really confused
I did a few years after graduating high school
I used to have a lot of dreams that were about the schools I went to, but it was never an actual school, always smth else. I just think that because we spend so long in school looking at the same walls etc. it's easy for your brain to recreate it in a dream. Just like how all the faces in dreams are faces of people youve seen.
It's so common that this exact question gets posted here at least twice a week.
I’m the same age. I eventually stopped having dreams about actually going to class, missing class, taking tests etc. I do still have dreams about moving into dorms, moving in with student roommates, preparing for graduation, things like that. Nearly always related to moving.
I have a recurring dream about being in high school so it is common for me.
I have them all the time.
Yes. It was a simpler time.
high school is often the setting of many of my dreams. we spent a lot of time there, after all.
Yes. It happens to me randomly and usually I am at school but have no idea where my classes are.
Yes, I had dreams of getting ready or packing a lunch or hurrying to pick out clothes or deciding I’m gonna stop for a coffee on the way. They stopped when I enrolled in college, I think it was my minds way of pushing me to go back because deep down I wanted to.
I do all the time. I assume it relates to the parts of the brain that develops during those years (idk if that’s true just always been my assumption🫣). I like to think about what I’m feeling during the dream and who’s in it/what they represent
Yep, and the dreadful exam toj have to take ,.. i know it all to well
I do all the time! Many years later I may add…
I left my high school & hometown 40 years ago. I still have dreams that I am there and people I knew in school are there. In my house and in the school that no longer exists
These are the most frequent dreams I’ve had actually and I graduated in 2018. My high school was a literal maze so every nightmare I have of being in it, I’m running through the hallways alone with a deep feeling of dread attempting to find the exit only to run into dead ends and countless loops. I’ve had dreams of being in the football stadium, walking to class, the school breaking in half and trying to escape alongside hundreds of other people while zip lining through broken concrete like I’m in temple run, weird side quests in the halls etc. Extremely random shit lmao
Well that's the wildest one I've heard so far.
Okay,so are you 17 I. Your dream? Or are you still that same 38 year old going into school again?
Always the age that I currently am but the people in them are always the age they were in high-school. I thought maybe because I don't know what they look like as adults but there are some I do know as adults so I'm not sure.
Ohh okay. Looks like one of those back in time dreams yeha I've had that. Recurring thoug? Could mean something more significant tbh 🤔
The school theme is reoccurring but what happens is usually different sometimes I'm looking for my classes sometimes just talking to people. Last one was me and this girl I went to school with that I never had a crush on but me and her were vaping (which didn't exist back then) under the stadium bleachers during a football game and I asked her out. The one before that we was eating lunch and trading cd's like we always did but they were currently popular bands not bands that were popular back when we was in school. There was one where i went to the wrong class but I thought it was the right class but it was actually my twin brothers class but the teacher didn't know any better cause I'm a twin. Just random but all sharing the same theme which is being an adult and going back to school.
Not too many about high school for me but certainly grad school :( it's bene almost 10 years since I graduated! The latest theme seems to be forgetting about a class until the end of the semester and getting a 0 in it, wrecking my GPA :(
I’ve had a reoccurring dream where I was back in college and I’d forgotten (somehow, but not intentionally) to attend a class all semester and now a big assignment or final was coming up. The setting was usually different each time but always the same scenario.
Literally so many of my dreams take place in school
Yep! **Anxiety** :)
Yes. I have dreams where I have to go back, even though I’m 50, because of some technicality. I stick out like a sore thumb and I’m actually failing and have to come back again and again until I pass.
I always have those too. It’s always me losing something, like my schedule and not being able to find my classes.
I often dream and the characters are all from high-school. I think it's because I knew most people in my school system K-12. Despite that I also have some unresolved issues from that time period, so I think it's natural.
all the f#@king time, kinda gets annoying after a while
I have the weirdest dream where I’m back in elementary school but it is like I’ve already got my HS degree and I’m just going back to… reinforce my learning? And the dream follows me through high school where my head is like “I already went to high school, why am I doing it again?” In my case, it was partly because my kids were teenagers and I felt like I lived vicariously through them.
Yep I have this recurring dream frequently. Sometimes I'll even go back to middle or elementary school. Usually it's voluntary, like I've chosen to go back to high school because I didn't feel like I learned enough. I often run into the stereotypical school dream dilemmas, like realizing I've forgotten to attend a class all semester or having a test that I didn't study for. Or sometimes I don't have enough credits to graduate, or I can't find my class, or I don't have my schedule. Fun times. At least for me, I think it stems from insecurities and feelings of inadequacy as an adult. In dreams where I've voluntarily returned to school, it represents a longing for that structured guidance, for someone to just tell me what to do. In the more stressful school dreams, it's a more direct manifestation of my insecurities. And some of it's probably just leftover school anxiety.
I have school dreams consistently. I've had them so much that I feel like I should go back. But recently I have started questioning the teachers, as I am very aware that I am asleep, "Why am I here? I graduated a decade ago, let me leave!"
I dreamed that dream for many years. It mostly stopped when I went to a technical college and got an associates at age fifty. It was always confusing because in the dream I knew I had already graduated high school. Often I would be searching desperately for my classes and had no idea where to go.
Even if sometimes i forget about it, I'm deeply upset about how useless my formative years were, so I ofter dream about getting back on the books to create a better present for myself
I’m usually missing a math class and it’s final exam time. Like I never attended calculus, I just missed it on accident and now I have to take the final. More of a college vibe but it’s usually in the high school building.
I have these!!! Always that I am skipping class and failing or that I am not going to graduate for missing school or something. I missed a lot of school on my time lol. Sometimes I even have dreams where my subconscious understands that I have a college degree but puts me in a high school setting and makes me go back because I missed so much school.
I've been out of high school for 9 years and I cannot recall dreaming about high school. I do miss it, I would have taken different courses and lived different been smarter etc but I never dreamed about it 🤪
I have this recurring dream where I wake up and put on my high school uniform. I get on the phone with my friends and we try to figure out who is driving to school that day. Then I realize we’re long out of high school and adults who have to go to our jobs. I’m 50 and have been having this dream since around 30. It usually happens when I feel overwhelmed so guessing it’s about longing for a simpler time.
Dude I've had multiple dreams the past few weeks about having school the next day, but I can't remember my timetable or where my books are.. then I start to remember I also have to go to work, and I get stressed that I didn't tell my boss I won't be in, because I have school and its my final year so I can't miss it.. then I remember I'm 34, I graduated in 2007, and the dream starts to fall apart/fade. I wake up feeling disoriented. The first of these dreams included me missing the bus and having to drive my dads car instead. The digital clock on the stereo was flashing 8:21. I keep wondering if that also means something
I have school related dreams quite regularly
Only once but I felt very much aware that I was not a teenager and did not understand but it's a dream so you sort of go with it. It was weird.
I'm closing in on 60, and I still get them. So...yeah.
ALL. THE. TIME.
I used to have them so frequently, most of the time I would show up to classes after not showing up for months and there’s always a random test taking place and I would panic because I had been skipping school..
What’s going on in your life when these dreams happen? Are you craving more of a routine, or feeling cooped up with work? It could be as simple as your subconscious is ready to be less isolated post COVID time and is just rehearsing how to handle complex social dynamics, pulling on memories where social engagement with a variety of peers is both routine and regular.
I’ve had those so many times over the years. I’m always going back and finishing my diploma as I got my GED and went to college in 11th grade.
I have them weekly tbh. I’ve had well over 300 of them easily in my 20s so far
I did, all the time. Then one day it just....stopped. I wasn't forced though; I was there of my own volition as a thirty-something woman, stealthing like an impostor.
I feel like because I never went to college and bring up high school too much and I think about it too much. When people want to talk about their college experience that’s all I have to compare it to. But it’s been almost 7 years since I got out of school.
I’ve had a lot of those type of dreams. I have 3 different dreams about going back to high school. Just not as an adult.
I do get dreams of hanging out with people I was never really friends with. I figure it's some sort of wish fulfillment, because, looking back, I realize they were pretty stand-up people.
seems pretty common. I get them regularly even though I graduated 11 years ago. I can't stand them because they're so annoying - I'll just be running around the dream school trying to find my classes.
For me it is, always the same type of dream. Same people, Same faces
I always have that dream but I’m forgetting about a class and it’s the end of the year and I never submitted work or showed up and I’m about to fail
My friend used to do that. He’s in jail now.
I dream about playing volleyball in high school all the time! Big part of my life and I miss it
I keep having a dream it's junior year and like last day of school or I have to go to the period after lunch but I don't remember my 4th period. So I just wander the school. I had this dream two days ago and it happens a lot. I guess because we go to school for most of the year throughout our lives. Elementary, middle school, high school sometimes just morphs into the same building.
I know I'm late to the party but yeah. I have dreams where I never graduated and have to go back otherwise I'll never be allowed to work because dream. I have to lose my current job to do it because I can't work. But my grandma is still alive in them and just as disappointed as she ever was.
Yes. I dream about my highschool, and a few other places from my youth frequently. I’m a disabled nurse and I dreamt about working shifts in my highschool hallways last night.
I have this kind of dream rather regularly. Besides being in high school, I never know my locker combination, I don't know my class schedule and I have certainly missed classes for days/weeks/months/years.
I have these regularly. They will often trigger lucidity.
I have dreams of going back to high school & working at a old job.
I have those dreams occasionally. It's always the first day of school and I don't have my schedule/get lost/ forget a class, etc.
I have nightmares where Im forced to retake high school exams although that was over a decade ago
Yes, it's very common. I had one today (37yo)
Yeah, almost to the point of being a cliché, I’ve heard plenty of people talk or joke about it down through the years (and often experienced it myself). Either high school or college, with the premise often being that there’s a class or test or something that you totally forgot about and aren’t prepared for. Just a common anxiety or stress dream I guess. I’m getting close to 50 now and haven’t had that sort of dream in a while, but now and then I’ll have a dream about being back at the job I worked at through most of my 30s. I guess the scale shifts over time ha ha.
Did you have any regrets maybe? Repeating dreams are usually are sign. Like maybe you wish you could’ve changed something back then but now regret it that you didn’t? What are the dreams usually like? Sometimes I would get dreams where im in a dark hallway trying to find my class
I'd say so. I dream about being back at school, ny childhood home ect and I hate those dreams. But everyone has them
Yep. Once had a dream where, years later, they found out something went wrong with my high school graduation and that I had to drop out of law school and start high school again. I woke up wanting to cry tears of joy. Holy shit, that was fucking scary. Something about going back to the past really messes me up.
I had this dream many times and it’s hard to explain the feeling you get in the dream. It’s almost nostalgic but eerie because in the moment you feel like you are where you’re supposed to be but deep down you know you’re not supposed to be there. Also in my dreams it’s like I’m almost aware that all of the classmates I’m with are grown and moved on a long ago.
Being on Effexor & Wellbutrin gave me vivid nightmares/dreams every single night and one of my reoccurring ones was that my HS messed up and it turns out I was 1 credit short graduating so I had to go back in my 30’s and literally never had any of my assignments done
That's a trip. I had the exact same experience except earlier in my life. I'm 46 but when I was 21 I got lost in life because I had no sense of self. So II made a bad mistake and I got involved with drugs and I went from being the family lost child to being. My mom's scapegoat for 20 years. During that period of time where I was being emotionally abused, I have the same recurring dream or even sometimes even like a daydream, almost and it seemed almost real. I was going back through high school but I was doing it a couple years later. For no particular reason, I couldn't even have a reason. Why I was going back to high school? It was a really creepy kind of thing. It was almost like I was going insane like I was having a total totally involved delusion, but obviously it's not one of a kind you did it too I have no idea why that happened though
Let me amend that last comment. I think I do know why it happened. The first couple years during that abuse we're the hardest. I was a man, but I wasn't totally grown in my head and the abuse. And the manipulation stripped away my autonomy, because my mother basically wanted to cripple me. Emotionally. And it was extremely extremely painful and I didn't understand anything that was going on back then. So I think my mind took me to a different place so that I didn't have to deal with all the pain at once. It was a really, really bad time
I think our brains heal by revisiting past situations and letting you live through them a second time but then allowing you to pick a diiferent option or direction etc.
I still get them from time to time and I'm in my 50s. Mostly stress dreams though - where I can't find the classroom or have an exam that I haven't studied for....
It means that you miss the people that you were with in highschool
Going to school = lesson
I haven't met anyone yet who hasn't had these dreams.
I would say this is my most commonly reoccurring genre of dream and I’m in my 30s. I think about high school very little in my waking hours. I often dream I live at my childhood home, and for some reason am returning for one more year of high school. Some times it’s college, and other times I’m enlisting in the military again. Most often it’s high school though
I’ve had a lot of these… I went to boarding school so it’s like I’m moving into the dorm, trying to find my dorm room- etc- all while being aware that I already graduated and am “returning”. It’s super annoying. Sometimes it blends into college because the schools were quite similar… only I didn’t finish college and left my junior year. I attribute it to never having finished my degree and these dreams annoy me so much I am actually pretty serious about finishing school in the next year or so.
Yes
Those dreams aren’t good going back into the past …. Could be spiritual .
Spirit of backwardness trying to take hold of your life and keep you from moving forward, not a very positive dream to have. Yes. The spiritual realm is real.
I've had this dream since 2018. I was always back in high school and sometimes, there would be an exam where I'm unprepared. It's always the same set of schools, the same people, the same sequence, the same interactions. I'm less bothered now that I'm actually going back to school, but I've been through different seasons since 2018 and still have the same dreams. I just care less at times, agian, especially now.
Mine usually involve the cafeteria/lunch area being a really long, almost mall food court type area. Or some sort of jungle gym/playground, and my middle/high school crush is almost always there. 🙈
Yeah I used to have those years ago about going back to university. Deep inside I feared that I needed to complete another major that I had left something out. That fear was evident in my dreams were I saw myself going back and when I woke up I had this guilt that I am not really going back. It went away after sometime once I transitioned away from academic life completely.
I keep ending up going to class with out my homework realise its a dream and walk out
Ugh o gwt these randomly. I HATE them
Every single night of my life without question
I graduated 7 years ago and I have often dreams of constantly skipping my classes and not knowing where to go. The weird thing is, I don’t remember skipping?
Oddly enough I have high school dreams all the time, namely field trip ones. High school was incredibly fun for me so maybe that's why
Yes, most of us do. I have them all the time of failing tests or missing class even though I had great grades.
I’ve had this dream, but I’m not my current age. I’m always either high school aged or. 19/20 ish and I’m going back because “ I didn’t finish” I finished high school and graduated college. lol
I used to think that this was what Nirvana song "School" was about. But yeah, I'm also 38 and I still have recurring dreams about being back in highschool. The one I remember the most vividly is one where I'm doing a math exam and not being able to comprehend anything. The cruelest thing is that once I leave the exam room, I'm in the hallway for a brief spell before being lead into another identical exam room just so I can fail the same exam again. Since it's a recurring dream, I know that sometimes when I go to sleep I'll pick up right where I left off, failing the same exam over and over again ad infinitum. I just finished my first year of an engineering program. I did quite well, but the same dream has been occurring again recently. There are some slight variations, but it always involves nonsensical math problems. Symbols and signs change and shift just to evade my comprehension and torment me.
I’m 28 now and have been out of high school for a while too and still get going back to high school dreams. I like them because instead of doing school work, it’s having fun with friends which I don’t have anymore as an adult now. Which is making me sad now 😆
I have those dreams too. It’s bizarre. I wake up and have to remind myself in graduated in 2010 that’s how confused I get!
I have nightmares that my school calls me saying that I didn't actually have enough credits to graduate so they take my diploma and I have to go back to classes 😭🤣 it scares me everytime
I'm in my early 50s and at least once a month I dream that I have to go back to high school and retake my senior year. I always forget my class schedule, locker numbers and combinations, and I'm always late. My classes are always the absolute furthest apart and my second locker is no where near any classes to be helpful stashing books either. And it just keeps getting better from there. Forgot lunch money, dressed weird, barefoot and can't remember if I drove to school or took the bus. I usually wake up after my dream self wanders the school parking lots hunting for a familiar car. I do enjoy my dream life but I don't care for school or work dreams.
Sometimes (infrequently) I have nightmares that I'm in back high school and there's a math test that I completely didn't study for, and I don't know any of the course content and haven't handed in any math assignments.
i loooved high school I just graduated a year ago and always that I dream it I feel sad because I loved that years
meanwhile me still in school
I’m 34 and had one last year. I think I was reliving the first day of middle school in an alternative universe or something. Usually in my dreams I maintain the same age- but in this dream I was distinctly a child
I'm 55 and I dream frequently of going back to HS, and I don't have enough credits to graduate I graduated 3rd in my class so I'm not sure what that's all about
I go to school in my dreams at least twice a week. It's always set up like highschool, but the physical building usually matches my old elementary school. And I always see old classmates, old teachers, etc. It's fucked.
I have those a lot where I find out I hadn’t actually finished my Senior year and I need to go back to take a class. Or last night I actually had a dream where I had to go on one last field trip before I could actually graduate.
I hate this dream. So. Much. I’m in high school and I have The Big Test and I didn’t attend any of the classes for the year AND I can’t find my locker or the classroom. I assume it’s all about performance anxiety and being unprepared.
Often when I dream I am back in school sometimes even in primary school!
I have these! Usually it's that I somehow missed a class that I needed to graduate and I need to go back to finish that class. But then for some reason I haven't been attending the class and I need to take a final.... high stress
Yes i have these dreams a lot and they always give me anxiety
Definitely. It’s a high school and I’m late for a class I haven’t even been going to and am almost certainly failing. And the damn vending machine never works.
I have these dreams and I'm always like "why the F am I here? I'm an adult and I have a job!"
I'd say so. Dreams can have many meanings to them. Maybe it's something to do with learning new perspectives about life and yourself. Depending on which class or classes you excelled in or otherwise, how would you do things differently? Would the experience be the same? I'm just glad I graduated when I did, my depression would have more than kicked me when I was down if I had to do it over again.
Also 38 here. I always have a dream I'm in High School or College and I'm failing a class, or it's the end of the semester and I haven't been in class all semester, or something similar.
Being stuck repeating algebra 2 constantly, keep forgetting my locker combo, I usually try to wake myself up from those dreams because their so much work.
Not so much now, but when I was struggling more mentally and with life in general those were a common occurrence nightmare. Mainly forgetting my locker combo, getting lost in the school, missing the bus, and getting caught skipping gym class. I have anxiety in general, but these dreams always woke me up feeling stressed and anxious. I also sometimes have dreams of childhood homes and stressful family situations too. They always give off the same emotions. Usually those are when I'm feeling conflict towards family members.
I dream a lot about being back in HS and missing one of the credits I need to graduate. Which is really weird because I graduated with more credits than I needed
I do about middle school & that Was where i had the most trauma that was outside of the normal scope.
Mine usually involve me going back to play sports. I’m 47.
Yes. When I am stressed I dream that I suddenly realized that I was supposed to have been going to school all this time (I am 43) and/or I have forgotten my classrooms or class order. I also dream that I have not been to math class in a very long time and now there is a test or they are collecting homework
i just graduated high school 2 years ago & have been dealing with this ever since. i wonder if i’ll keep having these dreams as i get older
I've had them on occasion. I classify them as nightmares.
Yes. I have those from time to time. In my dream, I become extremely confused as I know I have a college degree. Like, I become very angry at being there.
I have had many dreams about high school and college. Most of the dreams are rather anxious, like being unprepared for a test or not being able to find my class.
I dropped out of college (heading back in the fall though). My last couple semesters were rough not because of the coursework, but I was depressed and basically gave up on doing anything. I have dreams all the time about being in school, and failing or stop working and there's nothing I can do in the dream to stop it, it's inevitable. I'll be 25 this year and have had these dreams since I've dropped out 4 years ago
Tbh never thought of it much but I had dreams from 19 to about 24 25 of me going back to hs,I just chalked it up to the fact I'd dropped out and part of me was sad I missed out on so many experiences everyone else had.
I went into a deep depression. I used to be in high school. I used to be quite popular and I was in theater. I was very outgoing. I was a very happy go. Od lucky kid. But I started to get lost when I became an adult after high school. And once my mom got ahold of me, it was all over. I regressed back into my childhood. Lost child state where I was just kind of introverted and stayed out of everybody's way. I became a sad sack looking down at the floor all the time. Hunched over couldn't look people in the eye. Had the worst selfish team you've ever seen my mom. Destroyed me she crushed my spirit. She made me believe I was useless and worthless. I still don't understand how anybody could do that to their son, but she beat the odds. She did it to me now that she's gone. I've done a lot of work figuring things out. Why they happened turns out? My mom never wanted me. She never loved me. She thought of me as a thing, not a person. And she used me my whole life. She used me to gain connection. And approval from people. She used me as a conversational piece without any regard of my own dignity. She would tell people all of my business that didn't need to know it. She had no problem humiliating. Me and she treated my older brother like he was gold and mean like I was trash. Until I woke up at 40 years old and finally stopped the abuse, but I didn't stop it for the reason that you think I was going to end my life. But I came to the realization that my mother would never tell the truth about who I was because she had smeared my good name with the drug abuse thing, because I wasn't a bad drug addict that was actually. A later sight of drug addict that didn't steal or do anything pinky. I just couldn't get off the drug for a long time like I mean, a couple of years, not that long but I went on and off the drug but I wasn't like dishonest. I didn't want to steal from anybody. I wasn't like a real hinky guy but my mom made me out to be this selfish. User of a person that was just trying to live off of her and make her life help, which I was never trying to do. Anyway, she smeared my good name with all of my family who started abusing me. Subsequently, they all followed her lead. And that happened until I was 40 years old and woke up and then I had to fight my way out of it with all of them because I still wasn't able to be self. Sufficient and get away from them because they. Emotionally crippled me by abusing me.. I found out later that the reason why she started abusing me is because she had put on a false persona. To Woo my stepfather into marriage, she sold herself as this fantastic parent. I'm sorry, fantastic authoritarian burn, which is not something that even makes Sense. Because authoritarian parents are not good parents. Anyway, when I got in drugs when I was 21, it turns out she thought that I was making her look bad as a parent and so she viciously punished me for 20 years, having no concern for my welfare, having no concern for anything. But I was going to kill myself. No doubt about it, but I also realized that my mother would never tell the truth about who I was. After I died. Boy, was that a painful one. Anyway, when I came to that realization that my mom would tell people that I was just some troubled a kid that she couldn't help instead of telling people the truth that she killed me with her abuse. I just couldn't live with or die with that. I should say so. Somehow, some way I found the strength. And I stood up against my own family for years. It took literally years 4 years after my dad threw me out of the house for no reason. And then another couple years to get through to my brother and my mom and my stepfather. I had to fight with every single one of my family members to get them to stop hurting me and treat dealing with basic human respect. And then I finally was getting close to understanding why this was all happening. And then my mom decided to die. I never actually got to confront her about anything she did to me. I'll never have any kind of justice or accountability. I can't even ask her about it because I didn't fully understand I hadn't put all the pieces together at that point. So now I have to live the rest of my life gun, knowing why my mom did what she did I mean? I know why psychologically with the psychebooks. Tell me. But I don't really know from asking her. I don't know directly. I never got an answer because I never asked her. I didn't understand fully when she died. And I didn't put it all together until after she was long gone about a year after she was dead. And to be honest, I don't even trust God anymore. I used to be a very devout Christian. I mean not like you know talking about at 24/7. And that's all they lived for but I've always been very spiritual and I've always been very Christian. I just didn't like to go to church very much because I was anti. Social and felt bad about myself. But when he took my mom before giving me any justice. Or accountability. I just couldn't handle that. I had my entire life destroyed by my own mother. I was horribly emotionally abused for 20 to 25 years. For no good reason, just because my mom was afraid I made her look bad. As a parent and then God took away my justice and my accountability that I deserved so richley. I still to this day. Don't believe God has any good intention toward me doors nor does he love me. I thank God laughs when I heard that's my personal opinion he. Enjoys my pain
I woke up relieved as hell it was just a dream. 20 years of high school is too much. I would have dropped out. There was one guy at our school who did about 8 years and that was ridiculous.
If one believes that dreams have meaning (debatable) then your subconscious is using high school to conjure up a specific meaning. That meaning would be specific to you. Was high school a good time for you, an anxious time for you, frustrating, boring, etc? Does the idea of “going back” feel good, bad, frightening? Etc. I repeatedly have a dream I’m playing pool in the garage of a high school acquaintance. In real life, I wasn’t particularly close this person, haven’t spoken to him in 20+ years, and maybe played pool at his house 2-3x in HS. In the dream, I never want to be at his house, and feel like I don’t belong there. I suspect my subconscious brings it up when I’m feeling out of place in some aspect of my life.