Recurring Dreams: Midlife

By the time you have reached midlife you may have found your life has slowed down a bit. The frantic rush to move up the career ladder may have subsided. The hectic pace of family life with babies, toddlers, and teens may also begin to settle down. For the first time in a long time, you may actually have time to stop and reflect on who you are and what you have learned from life so far.

You may begin to experience recurring dreams that seem to make no sense to you at all. But, if you know the symbolism of the dream and carefully look at what is going on in your life, you may find that the dream makes perfect sense!

Can’t Find the Car

One common midlife reoccurring dream is one in which you cannot find your car. You return to the car park from work or a store, but your car is not where you remember parking it. You wander around aimlessly looking for it, but to no avail. You may feel terribly embarrassed because everyone else around you seems to be able to find his or her car.

Oddly enough, this dream may be caused by choices you have made in life. Do you always try to follow the rules? Did you give up your dreams of being an artist or rock star to marry, start a sensible career, and have children because that is what you were supposed to do? By midlife, you may be well into being settled both at work and at home, but you may also begin to realise that perhaps your life is not everything you expected it would be. In the dream of losing your car, the car is actually symbolic of something you missed out on while doing the practical thing. Someone who longed to be a teacher, but chose a more lucrative career as a computer programmer may find by midlife that he or she is no longer happy with their choice. Look back on your life and see what you may have missed. Is it possible to make a change in your life to incorporate that lost dream?

Forgotten Baby

This recurring dream is often reported by women who have grown-up children or even childless women. In the dream, you hear a baby crying. You follow the sound of the cry and notice the baby has been left somewhere such as a closet, drawer, or on a shelf. Horrified, you realise the baby has been unattended for years. You feel both guilty and neglectful.

Of course, the baby in this recurring dream is not representative of a real baby, but rather of a part of yourself that you have abandoned or about which you have forgotten. For some women, the baby may represent a college education they had to leave before finishing. For others, it may be a career dream that she gave up on long ago. You may have even started a novel that you never finished. At an earlier time, you may have set aside your dreams to focus on a more practical path in life. You may have quit college to help run a family business.

This dream is not telling you that you made the wrong decision, but rather reminding you that you still have the choice to finish what was once so precious to you. If you have this dream, determine what unfinished business you have in your life and what you can to do tie up loose ends.

By midlife, we may be reflecting on what we have given up or neglected through the years – both consciously and subconsciously. But a dream of losing your car or a forgotten baby can be a reminder that it is not too late to follow your dreams!