Reoccurring Dream: Need help interpreting.

So I never really realized that this dream I was having was reoccurring until this morning when I woke up with a sense of loss and longing while recalling my dream from the previous night. The dream starts off and continues differently every time, but the places in the dream are always the same and the end destination is also always the same.

This particular dream started out with my two younger siblings. I decide to take the three of us on a vacation in the woods, to go camping like we used to when our entire family would go hiking and fishing on our camping trips. We pack up and go on the journey which always is the same except for every dream I take this journey with different people or I go on my own. First we travel, in a car, through the countryside where the sun is always shining brightly and everything is golden and rolling with a breeze. The sky has clouds but I always feel at peace. I should also mention that this part of my dream is most colorful and always silent save the hum of 'conversation' that I have with other people in my dream (which I can never truly hear, I just know it is going on unless I am on my own in this part of the dream).

The next leg of the journey we are trying to hike through the woods which is dark and wet and I always notice how short the hike is because before long we reach either a swamp or a dry wooded mountain (these two are sometimes switched around but are always present in the dream one way or another) and this part of my journey is always faded or foggy, as if it's very early morning or the weather is bad. Through this last leg my party and I part ways because the other people in my dream (my siblings in this dream) say that the journey is too rough and they no longer wish to go camping with me anymore.

In some of my dreams I continue on without my party and I reach my final destination. In the dreams where I am alone I never stop and I continue on without ever thinking of turning back.

The only reason I do not reach my final destination is if someone wakes me up or the outside world wakes me from the dream. However, this time was different. I continue on without my siblings but for some reason the stretch of path that leads to my most treasured destination is no longer open for me to travel. I can see it and stand on it but I cannot venture down its straight road.

This last part of my dream is not colorful or dark, it is simply plain, with mist and light fog clinging to the high grass around me. The sky is grey in color-my perfect cool weather-and the road is a dirt road that leads to a clearing where I can camp, fish and relax in complete serenity. I always reach this destination alone, but sometimes I wake up before I can reach it. I know that when I have reached this destination in past dreams that it was the most beautiful place, but again it is not colorful or loud; just plain and simple and is always my perfect weather.

This particular dream had me unable to reach this destination and until this morning I didn't even realize it was reoccurring. I woke up feeling such a sense of loss, longing and helplessness that I couldn't think of the dream until much later in the day when I had a clear mind to recall the other dreams like that one. I really want to know what it means, past dreams and the one from last night or if it means anything at all.

It might just be my mind wanting to go back to older, simpler times and not being able to do so anymore, but I'd like to think it's something more, especially if this dream is going to come back in the future (I hope it does, but I hope to reach the camping site when it does come).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dovahkiin

This particular dream started out with my two younger siblings. I decide to take the three of us on a vacation in the woods, to go camping like we used to when our entire family would go hiking and fishing on our camping trips. We pack up and go on the journey which always is the same except for every dream I take this journey with different people or I go on my own.

I've read that the "when" and "with whom" of a dream can help you decide just what you are dealing with. That it was back in your childhood and with your family does mean, I think, that it is not a current/new issue you are dealing with but one from that period of time. I would first look at what I remember of the family vacations (for example, your story reminded me of how we'd go to the community beach and take steaks for our dinner but once we got there my father would invite friends and neighbors over so one's own portion of steak got smaller and smaller as it had to be divided with more people and I remember my stepsister really resented that :-) and how you felt and how your brothers and parents behaved, family dynamics, rivalries, etc.

Then, since the journey is with different people or one's self, I would think about your life and growing up, how it felt for you. Were these people you go with helpful or hurtful in your real life? Does it change based on your current problems and how you are working on them? For example, if you are having problems with a boss, is your father on the trip with you and giving you similar problems or, if you are late with something, is your mother with you and telling you to "hurry up" for some task? That sort of thing.

If you find relationships and work on understanding them, the dreams should change and get more interesting and specific for you, to help you figure out how to help yourself with current problems (based on how you understand or solved similar past ones) or how to feel better about past problems that may still be bothering you but might not anymore because perhaps you see all problems are similar in some ways and just part of your life; they won't "stick out" as much anymore.