Old memories popping up from no where.

[Chris142]

Lately I have been woke up from a dream. But the dream was a memory from 35-45 years ago.

It's happened several times and always a different event. Things I have not thought about in decades. But suddenly very vivid like I was just there .

I remember names, smells, conversations etc.

Anyone else mid 50's and had these memories pop up?

 

[jcy]

maybe your mind is retreating to a time when tech didn't ruin every single corner of our personal spaces. life was def better when there was only one screen in the house

 

[loneryder]

As I have gotten older, I have these dreams regularly. It usually is an ongoing situation with people from different eras of my life. Sometimes I remember them vividly and sometimes not at all. Someone once said that it is the brain deleting useless bits of stored information. I haven’t regained any memory.

 

[pudge]

yep, have had that happen to me in the last few years

 

[Dave P.]

Happens all the time. The dreams seem so real at times, I'm mad that I woke up and came back to reality.

 

[RedSpider]

I've had quite a few dreams like this in the last few years.

I grew up in a neighborhood where everything beyond our street was woods, farmland and two lane roads. Now its all suburbia and Starbucks and grocery stores and busy three lane roads that branch off into neighborhoods. I had a dream I was back when it was all the outskirts and I was riding my bike past the ball fields that are now a medical office park... past the fields where we used to launch our Estes model rockets and fly Cox and Testors nitro model planes, a field that is now the huge parking lot for a large hospital. I road past the cornfield that is now a Krogers superstore. Toward the end of the dream I was riding down the main road, at the time barely cluttered with 1-2 cars passing by every few minutes, which is now a busy 3-lane thoroughfare full of nonstop traffic, and a school bus pulled up next to me and I got on, and it was filled with all the people I went to grade school with. Except they looked like the kids I remember, not the middle aged versions I know now from Facebook and reunions. I got on the bus and looked at one of my friends and said "Something feels so weird about this" and he said "No, its great". The bus took us to our grade school, past the mom and pop restaurants, 70's era gas stations, and the old houses that I remember being there. I wasnt aware that I was dreaming, but I was lucid enough to know that something was off and this wasnt really my life now.

So sad that I woke up from that dream, at the same time grateful I had the opportunity to relive a minute or so of my life that isnt ever coming back.

 

[PontiacHO]

Yes. Entering my late 60s I have dreams about lost loved ones and friends. Always talking with them in a positive way. I really don’t think anything is off limits when it comes to our dreams and subconscious life. It’s normal for me anyway. I still have a reoccurring dream about being lost. Sort of like you can’t find your locker in school or your car in a parking lot. That one happens when some unpleasant event has-or is happening.

 

[Kira]

When I heard that, "Dreams are our short term memory sorting things out...", I latched onto it.
Believe me, it's the only dream phenomena "I think I know".

The other 'dream related thing' I've heard is that people who inebriate don't dream...and that's bad for the grey mush....or the psychosis...or something.

 

[Nessism1]

The human mind is quite remarkable. If we could somehow harness the creativity of dreams, that would really be amazing.

Regarding remembering old things, I'm not surprised.

I took a business trip one time to an area where I grew up, in the suburbs of Chicago, some decades since last visiting. I found the old High School, and decided to drive down to the old neighborhood, only I couldn't remember how to get there. I took a road going the right direction, but nothing looked familiar. After driving a while, basically lost, I decided to make a turn, then another, and another, completely random, or so I thought. Before I knew it, I was on the street where we used to live.

 

[Passport1]

I'm old enough that I have exhausted the inventory of my authentic dreams. Instead of reruns now I have other people's dreams. Someone once told me to 'follow your dreams' so I just went back to bed.

I do that often now.

 

[DWS507]

Happens to me quite often.I'm 74,retired at 62.I think in my case,I worked hard,slept more soundly.Now it seems more time to sit around and read and just think.That takes you back in time and then to memories.I find sometimes day thoughts come back as night dreams.And I don't sleep as soundly.
And I'm liking this post as I often wondered if this is a growing old normal kind of thing,but afraid to ask .Most of my dreams are not painful,violent,just normal situations that happened back in the day.

 

[doitmyself]

Nearing age 70, I dream quite a bit. My worst are a common theme of not being able to keep up: learning something, a work project, etc., - I'm frustrated because everyone else "gets it", and I'm scratching my head thinking "what am I missing". I wake up in a sweat and what seems forever, I finally come to realize it's a dream.

Regarding the past, I love reminiscing and I actively engage my brain to relive mostly the good times. I'm reminded to be careful to not live in the past vs. today. I have a huge library of great memories.

 

[joekingcorvette]

My worst dream was long ago I worked in a meat packing house because that is the only job I could quickly find after a good sales job had ended. I had a wife and two kids and a house and needed money. Plus, I had a company car that I lost and I had to buy a vehicle too since I used the company car for personal use too. The first week I would go to work, come home and dream I was working the same job in the packing house boning pork shoulder picnic hams. It was horrible. Luckily I left after almost one year of service. I do have dreams and they are usually about fishing or cars and they are always good dreams. Usually the dreams I remember are right before I wake up in the morning.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Sadly, I don't remember any of my dreams.

 

[Pablo]

We all do it to some extent.

And when you think about it, mid 50s is freaking ancient. When you are old like that, your bio hard drive (BHD) will be full of stuff, good and bad. There will be linkage to your short term memory and of course your (sub and) conscience.

At least the university "I'm late for class, I'm missing the exam" freakout nightmares drop off by 60. But you might still have some work presentation or interview nightmares.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I'm pushing 40 and a lot of these memories have started resurfacing. I think it's because of a certain herb I've started using. Dunno. Kinda cool to reminisce

At least the university "I'm late for class, I'm missing the exam" freakout nightmares drop off by 60. But you might still have some work presentation or interview nightmares.

I occasionally have one where I made it all the way to the end of the semester and found out I completely missed an entire class the full semester. Or there's one remaining class that I need and have to go for another whole semester because the scheduling doesn't work out.

 

[Pablo]

I occasionally have one where I made it all the way to the end of the semester and found out I completely missed an entire class the full semester. Or there's one remaining class that I need and have to go for another whole semester because the scheduling doesn't work out.

Yep had that one too.

People who don't go on to serious college degrees don't really understand this pressure and how it imprints so strongly. For something that really isn't life or death, PTSD worthy fight-flight - these experiences get pretty hardwired.

I see a marketing opportunity!!

 

[Pew]

Sometimes I get nightmares of my scary platoon gunny

 

[k1xv]

I sometimes have dreams, bordering on nightmares, about stressful situations I encountered decades ago. When I wake up, I continue to think about what was happening in the dream, and am somewhat dissatisfied that I cannot go back to sleep to continue the dream and resolve the conflict.

I think its a form of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Lately I have been woke up from a dream. But the dream was a memory from 35-45 years ago.

It's happened several times and always a different event. Things I have not thought about in decades. But suddenly very vivid like I was just there .

I remember names, smells, conversations etc.

Anyone else mid 50's and had these memories pop up?

Brain defrag.