Do you have strange dreams during a pandemic? You are not alone.

In the last two months, my mornings have been starting with the recurring flow of thoughts about the corona virus pandemic, the world has been struggling with, since the late December 2019, and still is, now, 5 months later.

I was, and sometimes still am, one of the ones, who just needs to know what the heck is going on. I have over-read the news, medical articles and over-watched videos from the doctors and experts, all in the effort to gain a bit of certainty and peace, knowing what exactly was going on. It truly didn’t help at all, on the contrary, caused me questioning more and more. Oddly enough, I felt proud myself, being “so well informed” for that time being, until my thoughts about what I had read during the day started interfering with my sleep – ability to fall asleep and my dreams.

I recall my last “nightmare” type of a dream still very vividly.

It was happening it the times of corona and I was in a rather small grocery shop shopping for some basics with my parents and my sister. My parents decided to, all of sudden, leave the shop as it was getting more and more crowded inside. Me and my sister were just keeping hanging out in there to shop also for some really useless things. Then, I remember, it was getting REALLY full inside and I started to panic, also because no one was wearing a mask, including me. I started rushing towards the cashier, completely forgetting about my sister, to just pay and get out from there. I was about to pay with my card, entering the pin code, and it did not work. I could not remember what the correct number was. I was trying and trying, I had no other cards or cash with me, but I still wanted to buy the things i had in the basket. As a result, people started to cough, sneeze and shout about me being slow to pay. It felt very claustrophobic because the shop was ridiculously full. I woke up relieved that it was only a dream.

The morning after, I was trying to figure out, what was that dream trying to tell me.

Here are some findings; People in the Netherlands still do not wear a protective mask in public, not even cashiers or shop assistants, and when some particular shops re-open again, like IKEA, crowds are coming back, not always keeping the recommended distance. Shopping should be limited to minimum and we should buy only things that are necessary, not to just go out and hang out in the shop to kill our boredom. This is what my dream reminded me. We all should still be careful. The numbers of cases are still shockingly high all over in world.

Let’s hope this dream will not repeat for me ever again. From today, reading less news is my new resolution for the upcoming month.

Stay safe everyone.