Lions, nightmares, and me…

Lately I’ve been having lots of bad dreams and I simply can’t figure out why.

I’ve had pretty vivid dreams for about as long as I can remember—I usually have several dreams a night and can remember most of them the next morning. (Believe me, this is Ryan’s *favorite* thing ever. I quickly learned that a tired husband does. not. care. what happened in my dreams. He just wants me to get out of bed and shower so he can go back to sleep as quickly as possible.)

But even though I can remember so many of them, they’re not usually that great. If I had to guess, I’d bet this is how they’d divide up:

• 10% wake-up-several-times-a-night nightmares,
• 50% ominous, unsettling dreams,
• 30% random dreams,
• 9% interesting dreams, and
• less than 1% are awesome (fighting evil along side Wolverine and Harry Potter was a particular favorite of mine).

Do you even realize how hard that math was?

Anyway, that’s what’s normal. When things aren’t normal—i.e. major life changes or emotional upheavals—that’s when the heavy-duty nightmares kick in. For instance, graduating college and a disappointing breakup led to several months of nightly nightmares where someone died and it was my fault… Or, when things at work would go bad, it’s dreams of people screaming awful things at me all night long.

I’d wake up in tears several times a night and would delay sleep for hours, just to avoid the dreams.

So why I’m having bad dreams now is pretty bewildering to me. Things are pretty good right now (knock on wood, right?). So WHY AM I BEING EATEN BY LIONS EVERY NIGHT??? Seriously, it doesn’t matter if the dream starts out in a swimming pool or my own home, eventually a lion enters the picture and it’s game over.

Since no online dream interpreters can give me a reasonable answer, I thought I’d turn the question over to you: Can someone please tell me what these dreams are supposed to mean so I can start sleeping in peace again? Also, any tips for taking on a lion with your bare hands would also be appreciated.

Thanks, everyone, for being more awesome than Google.