Vivid Dreams

Ever since I stopped drinking, my dreams have been CRAZY vivid. I mean, during my heavy drinking days er years, I don’t think I dreamed. And if I did, I didn’t remember them. Now I dream all of the time, and I remember them. They all seem so real. I awoke one morning to recall that I was dreaming of dragons.

What intrigues me the most about dreaming of dragons is that this is not the first time dragons have appeared in my life. However, previous appearances have been during my waking hours. Throughout the last several years, dragons have shown up time and time again. I had not put those appearances of dragons together until now. And now I have, my mind is BLOWN.

I feel like I have found a new superpower.

Drinking alcohol before bed can add to the suppression of REM sleep [the sleep stage when you have vivid dreams]…sleep onset is often shorter for drinkers, and some fall into a deep sleep rather quickly. As the night progresses, this can create an imbalance between slow-wave sleep and REM sleep, resulting in less REM sleep. This decreases overall sleep quality, which can result in shorter sleep duration and more sleep disruptions.¹

Dragons Everywhere

Dragons first appeared in my creative world accidentally. During an evening out to attempt to paint a tropical sunset, I ended up drawing a dragon.  I don’t know how that happened. It was an accident (or was it?). It was one of the first times that I didn’t force myself to go back to painting what I was supposed to paint. I went with it and embraced the creative process. 

The second time I decided that I would paint a dragon wrapping itself around the moon. By the third time, I was consciously adding them to my paintings. Then I started adding them at various places, sometimes the main object of the painting and others. Other times they would be slightly hidden within. 

I suppose it should not have surprised me as much when I awoke from dreaming of dragons.

Dreaming of Dragons

I was intrigued by that subject matter of my very vivid dream. I recently put together that dragons have appeared over and over in my life. This particular dream was so vivid that I had a hard time shaking the imagery. I think that my brain was trying to tell me something. But what?

My first thought was that my mother dreamed of dragons. It was a reoccurring dream that she had after she went to the mental hospital for attempting suicide when I was a child. I recall her dragon being a typical leathery hard outer skin, beady eyes, etc., And in her dream, she slew the dragon. She was the hero. Very much the juxtaposition from how I imagine she felt in her everyday world. 

“Heroes typically fight (“slay”) dragons to gain control over territory; dragons are also usually guardians of a treasure…symbolic (as in knowledge). Killing the dragon is the conflict between light and darkness, slaying the forces of evil.” ²

In contrast, my dragons were giant fiery, skeletal dragons. They were full of fire, and dark smoke was swirling around their bones. I did not slay my dragons. I don’t recall being scared of the dragons. It sounds like it should have been a scary dream, but I wasn’t. I did not slay any of the dragons in my dream.

Meaning of Dreaming of Dragons

I do think that dreams have some significance in our lives. The hard part is trying to figure out what a dream means to me. There is a lot of symbolism regarding dragons. After sifting through many websites on dream interpretation and the symbolism behind dragons, I think I have pieced it together.

I came across the psychological symbolism of dreaming of dragons. I do feel it is a bit Freudian, the fear of incest. That is interesting. I am not afraid of incest, as that happened to me so long ago. I am afraid of the memories of incest. Because the memories invade me now, and they aren’t even complete memories.

If dreaming of dragons represents memories, then why would I not be afraid of the dragons? Mm. It could be that it isn’t the memories that I fear but the feelings they cause me to feel. Feeling certain emotions is not my thing. That could be it. And because I wasn’t afraid of the dragons, could it mean that I am coming to terms with those feelings?  I think it does.

Fiery Dragons

I did not find anything in particular about dreaming of fiery dragons. My dragons were fire, and smoke had no actual shape. I think that represents the changes I am making in my life. Fire usually means transformation, like with the mythical bird, the phoenix reborn from its ashes. 

Dragons are part bird, part lizard, which makes sense as to why mine were fiery. They were phoenix dragons.

Sources Cited

1. Pacheco, Danielle. (2020). Alcohol and Sleep. Sleepfoundation.org. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/nutrition/alcohol-and-sleep
2. Symbolism Project. Dragon. University of Michigan. http://umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/D/dragon.html