Strange question for you all

[valis2]

Are you always yourself in your dreams?

As a teenager, I was almost never myself. I've been the matriarchal leader of a group of humans being wiped out by machines. I've been Prince Michael, determined to save his people from the black oozing menace that threatens his lands. I've been Death, collecting the souls of sorority cheerleader bunnies. I've been a knight in full armor, riding a horse, who lost his only true love. I've been a superspy agent. I've been a poor Russian peasant running with her husband from the police, who climbed a tower and then threw herself off and died. I've been in Hell, and Purgatory. I've been a mermaid in a swimming pool.

As an adult, I am usually myself, and I'm someone else about 15% of the time, I think. Going through my dream entries, it seems like that ratio more or less holds true, though in one I'm an Asian water dragon, and I think I was Snape in another. And sometimes I'm not quite myself, but a version of myself.

What about you guys? Are you ever a different person in your dreams? Are you ever a different gender? Species? I'm curious.

Comments

[schemingreader.livejournal.com]

I'm often a different person, usually someone fictional like a detective, or someone male. Once I was Yoko Ono and was writing a novel.

Mostly I'm a version of myself, though.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh wow! Yoko Ono? That's amazing, and now I'm totally intrigued.

[blackletter]

I'm often someone else. And even more often I'm just a bodiless observer of things. Sometimes I'm myself, but those are usually very boring dreams--like dreaming that I'm teaching class.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I'm just watching, that's true. And a lot of times I have dreams of the mundane, though they usually end up with odd twists where I scratch my head.

[kakiphony.livejournal.com]

I am almost never "myself" being me as I am now in 2010. I feel like "me" in my dreams, but that identity often has little to do with my current self. I am very often male -- I'd say I'm male 80% of the time.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh, how interesting! Sometimes I'm not really exactly myself, but I'm still "me" somehow. But sometimes I really am not myself at all, like the times I listed in the entry. In those cases, I was definitely a different person.

[quoshara.livejournal.com]

Alas, I do not remember my dreams as well as I used to. Most probably because I get so much less sleep. *s*

But yes, I'm often other people: female, male, young, old... different colors and races, different vocations, human, non-human.
And oddly, other people do the same identity warps. A friend or a relative may look completely different than they actually do, but I still know it's them.

Sometimes I'm a part of 'the story' and sometimes just an observer. I hate that I can't remember them as well though, some of them were fairly entertaining.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Oh, how interesting! Non-human? Do you remember any examples?

And even more interesting that the people around you are different as well. That's fascinating. Sometimes the people I'm talking to morph into someone else, but they've never looked like someone else and been someone else.

Fascinating!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Wow. I can't remember any dream where I wasn't myself. I didn't know you could do that--now I'm jealous.

I've had dreams where I was myself but, you know, had a completely different life. Like, I'm on a pirate ship because my totally different life has brought me to that place, but I never think of myself as not being myself.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Wow. I can't remember any dream where I wasn't myself. I didn't know you could do that--now I'm jealous.

It's weird, because there's a difference--in some dreams I'm a superspy whatever, and I'm still me, but in others I'm a superspy whatever, and I'm not me, and it's very clear to me.

Sometimes I'm just a bodiless third party, watching the dream unfold like a movie.

I've had dreams where I was myself but, you know, had a completely different life. Like, I'm on a pirate ship because my totally different life has brought me to that place, but I never think of myself as not being myself.

It's just a little shift in perspective, I think. And it isn't like I'm thinking, hey! I'm not me! woo-hoo! In fact, it barely impacts the dream, if at all. But I wake up and think, huh. That was unusual.

[slavelabour.livejournal.com]

I have a LOT of really strange dreams but the last one that was super duper odd I thought I was myself until I looked in the mirror and I was Mark Twain. In the Colonel Sanders getup and the wacky mustache and everything. I had a bourbon and water in my hand and I dropped it when I saw my reflection in the mirror. The shattering glass is what woke me up. Craaaaaaazy.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

WOW. That is absolutely amazing!! I'm going to be thinking about this for days. *is mesmerized*

[todayiamadaisy]

I rarely remember my dreams at all, but in those I can remember I've always been me. Me being attacked by giant birds while out to sea in a barrel, but still me.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

See, I often am myself, but I have a handful of dreams every year where I'm definitely someone else, and I realize this when I wake up.

And I'm still giggling about being out to sea in a barrel.

[iibnf.livejournal.com]

I am always male. Tall, thin, dark brown hair, about mid 30s. Think Pierce Brosnan but not so pretty, not so hairy, prone to stooping.

I've died many times, I'm nearly always on the run from something.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is totally fascinating!

I've only died the once, and it was pretty strange. I woke up and thought, but I didn't die in RL, which was a rumor I'd always heard, and I was intensely relieved.

[catsintheattic.livejournal.com]

I'm almost always myself, but, like sistermagpie, it's more like feeling like me and not necessarily wearing the same outer identity. I could be a war fighter, for example, but still recognise my real self.

If I'm not "me", I usually dream in the context of the story I'm currently writing, getting some insight into a character or even dreaming their dreams.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

See, I'm only not myself in a handful of dreams a year, but it's very clear to me when I wake that I wasn't myself.

And wow--you dream about your stories? You're so lucky! I'd love to be able to do that. I have had so few of those. I can count them on one hand, sadly enough.

[go-back-chief.livejournal.com]

It happens that I'm someone else, but not very often. And when I am, I can sometimes find myself wondering what the point of this change of identity was. Like this dream I had when I was around 17-18, where I was a competent 40 year old male doctor, only the dream wasn't about that at all. It was about some really scary, bloodthirsty, green dogs who chased me up to a high chair. So I was wondering why I couldn't have been the 17-18 year old girl I really was for that dream, but I guess my subconscious wanted to break gender stereotypes.

Otherwise it's more usual for me to see a dream play out like a movie when I dream of people who are not me, and in those cases it can be hard to determine who of all the characters is "me". (Although often, I'll find myself entering those dreams eventually as myself. Heh, I guess that's kind of the self-insert American Exchange Student or something!)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

How interesting! I usually can't figure out why on earth I'm dreaming from a different viewpoint. Usually I can't make much sense of my dreams, honestly.

And the movie thing--sometimes I have that, too, where I'm a bodiless third party just watching the action play out. And lol, exchange student!

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

I do crazy things in my dreams but I'm always me!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

How interesting! See, I would have thought that the writers on my flist would change viewpoint a little more often. Hmm.

[vanityfair00.livejournal.com]

I don't remember many of my dreams and the ones I do are usually nightmares. But I am always myself as much as I can remember.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

My mom doesn't remember any of her dreams. She never has been able to, it seems.

I don't remember the vast majority of them, but some of them stick with me, as long as I think about them right when I wake up, and write something down or tell someone. Then it lasts a little longer.

[hardboiledbaby]

Wow, interesting.

I don't remember most of my dreams; lately, the ones I do are rather... traumatic. But I'm always me, as far as I can tell. I may be doing strange things or be in weird places (like a ghost town with honest-to-God tumbleweed), but none of it strikes me as odd until I wake up. Some are in color, some in sepia or B&W. And my POV is as though I'm being filmed from over my shoulder, so I can see my hands and glimpses of my profile.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I am so very often doing things that make no sense, or interacting with friends who are doing very strange things or talking in a strange way. And in the dream I'm totally perplexed. I think it's because I'm a control freak, and when people don't act as I expect, it's very disjointing.

Sepia and B&W?! Wow! That's amazing. And the POV thing--I've never heard of that! I mean, I sometimes have the bodiless-watcher thing, but wow. That's so interesting.

[jaelle-n-gilla.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm always myself... just not always the way I am in real life... No, that doesn't make sense.

I'll start over. I'm almost always myself. Like, Jae, female, adult. I often have ideas, attributes. Sometimes I have strange superpowers, sometimes I have different hair, and I'm even sometimes (rarely though) a different person. I've had dreams where I was a man or androgynous in some strange way. Mostly, I am me though.

The thing is: My internal picture of myself isn't that fixed even when awake. I have trouble identifying myself as "me" in pictures. It takes longer than identifying my friends or parents. My mental self image is slimmer, younger, has no glasses. So I don't notice the difference much in dreams. I guess I'm just strange.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting!

For years, when I thought of myself, I would picture myself with a ponytail, even though I have almost never put my hair up in a ponytail. It persisted for so very long.

When I think of Husband, I often think of him looking as he did in the first picture I took of him, and I forget what he looks like now. Whenever I come home from a long trip, I'm always shocked at what he looks like, because he is forever fixed as that picture in my head. ;)

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

I can't recall being anyone but myself. Sometimes in weird situations, but always myself.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I'm a bodiless watcher, and the dream is almost like a film unfolding.

[little-tristan.livejournal.com]

It's funny you ask. Usually I'm myself, but different versions. Almost always thinner and healthier, like I can usually walk, although sometimes I feel like I shouldn't be able to. There's this nagging feeling that I'm not *really* myself, but I can't quite pin it down.

Recently, though, I've been Sam Winchester quite a bit. Which is much more fun, because he's big and strong and gets to hang out with Dean.:D

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Sam? Really? Wow! I always wish I would dream in the fandom I'm in, but it happens soooooo rarely. Seriously. I just never seem to have the knack of dreaming about the fun stuff. lol!

[drusillas-rain.livejournal.com]

Different everything. I was even a dinosaur once when I was a kid. I also have a vague recollection of being an inanimate object.

I think most of my dreams are actually in a 3rd person omniscient voice, so that I switch pov's depending on what's happening (and so that I end up being everyone who's pov I switch to).

[drusillas-rain.livejournal.com]

Reading through the comments, I was reminded that the answer to your question can depend on my brain chemistry - if I'm having really bad pms, I'm usually quite depressed, so I generally take either St. John's Wort or 5-HTP (which is a precursor to seratonin). The 5-HTP always makes my dreams a lot more vivid and detailed, and this is especially where the 3rd person pov occurs. I also tend to take 5-HTP based on the quality of my dreams - if my dreams are meandering and unfocused, it's usually a good indicator for me that I'm starting to get depressed and that I need to be more aware of my mental state.

[sigune.livejournal.com]

Most of the time I'm someone else. And to be honest, I kind of like that :). Quite often I'm a man.

I don't remember all the people I have been, but they include Snape, Sir Gawain and a princess from Super Mario ;).

[valis2.livejournal.com]

You've been Snape?! Wow! Bet you had awesome shoes, lol. That's so interesting!

I really wish I could dream more often in subjects and fandoms I'm interested in. But it happens sooo very rarely. :(

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I'm not only myself but always in common situations, like talking to a friend or doing something that I do normally. And the funny part is that I'm always at the same age I am by the time of the dream.

[ms-hecubus.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I'm always myself, more or less. At least in all the dreams I remember.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Interesting! Sometimes I'm a bodiless observer, and I kind of watch the dream like a movie, and often I'm not involved at all in that kind of scenario.

[droxy.livejournal.com]

Always myself in dreams.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I'm there, but I'm just kind of watching the dream unfold and I'm not involved. It's only a handful of times a year that I'm not myself, but they're very unusual dreams.

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

If I'm in the dream at all (... more on that, later), then I'm myself, but often a different me. I mean... I'm always a 30-something female born in 1979 (even if I dream another period in history or an alternate/fantasy universe, so I guess I must time- or dimension-travel to get there, heh), but sometimes I look different, act different, or have a different personal history. Sometimes I answer to a different name, but when I do, 99.5% of the time it's the same different name (which is both neato and weird, simultaneously).

Sometimes I'm not even in the dream. I'm in it, sure, but as an invisible and undetectable observer, much like the film strips in my head.

My dreams are kinda split--about half the time they'll be "normal life" dreams, focussed on something that's been bothering me or something that's haunting the back of my head. The other half... wow. It varies so much. My imagination fully comes into play. I can be anywhere, with anyone, doing anything. I do have fandom dreams, too, although not all that often.

... I don't have porny dreams, though. I'm not sure whether I feel cheated or relieved.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

sometimes I look different, act different, or have a different personal history. Sometimes I answer to a different name, but when I do, 99.5% of the time it's the same different name (which is both neato and weird, simultaneously).

Oh wow, that's so fascinating! I just "know" whether I'm myself or not when I wake up. Er, I mean, whether I was just myself in the dream or not.

Sometimes I'm not even in the dream. I'm in it, sure, but as an invisible and undetectable observer, much like the film strips in my head.

Oh yes, I have those too--it's like I'm watching a movie, and I'm just a passive third person in the background

My dreams are kinda split--about half the time they'll be "normal life" dreams, focussed on something that's been bothering me or something that's haunting the back of my head. The other half... wow. It varies so much. My imagination fully comes into play. I can be anywhere, with anyone, doing anything. I do have fandom dreams, too, although not all that often.

Most of the time my dreams are "normal life" dreams, too, but there will be an element of strangeness involved, like a customer will yell at me and then I'll yell back and then the customer will start crying. And then there are the imagination dreams, just like you say, where it's all very much unpredictable.

... I don't have porny dreams, though. I'm not sure whether I feel cheated or relieved.

Omg, I almost NEVER have porny dreams. EVER. EVER EVER. Seriously, it's kind of weird. Maybe one a year, and it's not even like they're really great, either. So bizarre!