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MINDFULNESS AT WORK

Having dreams about work? Here’s how to know if it’s time to make a change

Some work-related dreams are inconsequential. Others may be trying to tell us that we need to do something different.

Having dreams about work? Here’s how to know if it’s time to make a change

[Photos: Vidal Balielo Jr./Pexels; Lisa Fotios/Pexels]

BY Jared Lindzon7 minute read

As we sleep, our subconscious mind often reflects on the things which we are unable to or unwilling to face during the day. And since we spend a big chunk of our waking lives at work—and given that we are often unable to express our true emotions in professional settings—it should come as no surprise that work-related dreams are incredibly common.

While some of these dreams are just a way of mentally processing the events of the day, others may be warning that it’s time to take bold action to change our circumstances—or even our jobs.  

“A lot of our dreams, the root cause of them is not being able to make sense of our emotions in the workplace,” explains dream psychologist Ian Wallace. “We dream to process our emotions, and in the workplace we often are encouraged to—or feel we have to—wear emotional masks, so we can’t show how we really feel.”

Wallace, who published a book titled The Top 100 Dreams: The Dreams That We All Have and What They Really Mean, says that many of the most common dreams are related to work or career growth—even those that don’t feature the workplace or related symbols or characters. At the same time, those that do take place in an office or feature colleagues may have nothing to do with our professional lives.

Instead of being taken literally, he says dreams can often make us more aware of our ambitions, anxieties, fears and limitations, and help guide us toward addressing those uncomfortable questions we may be avoiding in our waking lives. 

Here are some of the most common dreams that can provide insight into our careers, and the difficult questions we may want to ask ourselves upon waking: 

Being Chased 

The most common dream identified in Wallace’s research is the feeling of being chased, which he says commonly occurs when we’re pursuing something in our careers, such as a promotion, a project, or even just the knowledge that our contributions are valued. 

“You feel like you’re chasing something, but in reality, you are being prevented from achieving something you’re pursuing in your work life,” he says. “For that dream I would ask what ambitions are you pursuing in your work or your career? What is preventing you from what you’d like to do?” 

One variation of the being chased dream that is especially common among younger workers or those in lower level roles involves being chased by zombies. According to Wallace, the undead represent the mindlessness of a job that doesn’t spark their creativity, or utilize their true talents. 

“It often happens to someone who’s in a job that involves mind-numbing tasks that feel like they’re draining the life from you,” he says. “What you need to do with this dream is think about whether you need to move on and use your creativity someplace else, because what you’re doing now is soul-destroying.” 

Losing your teeth 

The second most common dream involves teeth, specifically having them fall out or rot away. Wallace says this dream harkens back to the shared experience of losing our teeth as children and is closely connected with the emotions that typically inspire us to show our teeth, namely happiness and aggression. 

“When we dream that our teeth are falling out, there is a situation, often in the workplace, where we feel we don’t have the power or the confidence to achieve or decide what we want to do,” he says. “If you have this dream, you may need to be more confident or more powerful in the workplace, which is very easy to say, but what actions might we take? How might you show up more powerfully? Where can you assert yourself? Where can you be smiling and persuasive?” 

Showing up to the office naked

One of the most common work-related dreams, according to Wallace, involves showing up to work naked, which he says relates back to the emotional cloaking that many feel is necessary in professional settings. 

“If we dream that we are naked in public—and it’s usually in a workplace environment—then we’re feeling vulnerable that people can see the real us, beyond that protective barrier that we have created,” he says. “The reality of it is if we want to get ahead in an organization, we really have to open up and show people who we really are, because sometimes we have to give people the naked truth, our authentic selves, as a way to build trust.” 

Forgetting to study for an exam

It’s not uncommon to show up to a familiar classroom and feel overcome with dread at the realization that you’re unprepared for a big test, only to wake up and remember you graduated long ago. According to Wallace, the classic “forgot to study” dream is especially common among high achievers and perfectionists. 

“It has nothing to do with other people being critical of you, or examining you, or judging you—it’s all about you judging yourself, and being overly self-critical,” he says. “You’re probably trying to achieve perfection, and when you don’t, you give yourself a really hard time, so rather than being self-critical, what you really need to do is celebrate what you’ve accomplished so far, and understand what makes you most happy and fulfilled in life.” 

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Failure to Launch 

One common theme that shows itself in many forms in dreams is an ability to physically ascend. That could take the form of an airplane that won’t take off, an elevator that can’t go up, or a chairlift that’s stuck dangling in place. 

“Being stuck at the airport and being unable to get on the plane, unable to take off, those are related to trying to become successful and feeling stuck,” adds dream analyst and author of I Had the Strangest Dream . . . The Dreamer’s Dictionary for the 21st Century Kelly Sullivan Walden. “Or you just can’t hit the right buttons on the elevator; you just don’t feel like you’re in complete control over your movement.”

She explains that often these dreams represent our frustration with a lack of upward mobility, and should inspire us to question whether we’re taking the most effective approach to career growth. 

Confinement

That feeling of helplessness also shows up in dreams where we feel confined, whether in an elevator, cave, or prison cell. 

“Someone came to me about this recently, where they were at their work, but they were inside a little house within their work, and it was too small and they didn’t fit,” says Sullivan Walden. “That dream was telling them that the job was too confining for them, and also they didn’t fit in, and they were contorting themselves to try and fit in, but it was actually causing them a lot of pain.”

When confronted with this dream—especially on an ongoing basis—Sullivan Walden recommends trying to find some “wiggle room” at work where you can express yourself, grow your career, or otherwise overcome that feeling of being restricted. If that fails, perhaps consider looking for a career opportunity that feels less confining. 

Commuting challenges

While the pains of commuting may have been lessened by the rise of remote and hybrid work, our subconscious knows all too well the fear of running behind.   

“Running late in dreams is really common for people who are up against deadlines at work,” says Lauri Loewenberg, professional dream analyst, member of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, and author of Dream on It: Unlock Your Dreams, Change Your Life. “Particularly if you’ve lost your car, or the car won’t start, these are usually about losing your motivation, [or] your drive.”  

According to Wallace, such dreams often become more frequent with age and experience, especially among those that have had to give up a part of themselves in pursuit of their career goals. 

“Later on in life, and in careers, people dream that they can’t find their car, that they’ve parked it some place, and when they go back, the car is gone,” he says. “That suggests they parked some ambition in life and they’re trying to find their way back to it, to start it up again.” 

Those who regularly dream of struggling to get to work may want to explore old hobbies, ambitions, or talents they had previously abandoned. 

Job-specific nightmares

Beyond those work-related dreams that are common to everyone, Loewenberg says there are plenty of career-specific nightmares that might suggest an unaddressed work anxiety, or a negative work situation that needs to be resolved.

“Actors get the ‘I can’t remember my lines’ dream; DJs get the ‘dead air’ dream; paramedics get the ‘I can’t save the patient’ dream,” she says. “When you get them, you are probably having more stress than normal at that particular job.”

When it comes to deciphering work-related dreams Loewenberg says there are two key factors to pay attention to: what we think and say in the dream, and the feeling that we’re left with upon waking.

“If the dream was particularly frustrating, for example, and that frustration is still sitting with you after the dream, that frustration exists somewhere in your real life,” she says. “If you feel the same kind of frustration when you think about work, that’s a big piece of the puzzle; your dream is showing you that work is frustrating.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jared Lindzon is a freelance journalist, public speaker and Fast Company contributor who has reported on technology and the future of work for over a decade. Through that period his writing has been featured in many of the world’s top news publications—including the BBC, The Globe and Mail, and the Toronto Star, covering a broad range of subject matters, from entrepreneurship and technology to entertainment and politics. As a public speaker Lindzon often delivers keynote presentations on the future of work and appears on panels alongside some of the world’s leading business, political, and cultural leaders. Born, raised, and based in Toronto, Lindzon earned a Master of Arts in Journalism degree from the University of Western Ontario, where he also received a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies and a minor in Creative Writing.  More


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