Blurring the Line between Dream and Reality

Have you ever found yourself in a dream where the surroundings felt so familiar they made you wonder: Is this a real place? Have I been here in real life?

Many times we do find ourselves in familiar settings during the course of our dreams. Your own home. The house you grew up in. A familiar road you drive down every day. The halls of your school, or at your desk taking a test you never studied for.

But - at least in my dreams - there are also settings unique to dreamscape, places you visit only when you are dreaming and people you only meet within the context of those dreams.

Last night, I dreamed of visiting a place and people that I haven't seen since my first child was in preschool. And even while I was dreaming, I was trying to remember why it all seemed so familiar. Was this somewhere I'd actually been in real life? Even after waking up, the place and people haunted me, leaving me to wonder if they were from the real world or the dream world.

It wasn't until during my first cup of coffee that I was able to pinpoint the inconsistencies that meant this house wasn't based in reality. This was a recurring dream I used to have thirteen years ago, a place I visited in my dreams when I was stressed.

But until that caffeine hit my bloodstream, I really couldn't tell.

Maybe this is because I'm a writer, and live in dreamworlds in my head even when I'm awake, sitting at my computer, banging away at a new story. But that blurred line this morning gave me pause. (thank god for coffee!)

Help me out. Does this happen to you, too? Have you ever been in a dream that seemed so real that you wondered if you were really awake?