u/FriedAmbition

It mostly happens before bed as a way to settle in and try to shape what I dream about. For as long as I can remember I’ve had a very vivid imagination and very vivid dreams. I’ve had several dreams where I die that felt so I real it was traumatizing and physically painful. But I’ve also had dreams that were not necessarily good but awe inspiring and captivating. Anyway I started trying to remember the places in my dreams and I’d really cling to the memory of the environment in particular. About a decade ago I was able to piece together a couple particular places and started going there in my mind sometimes spending up to two hours before bed in that place or other times I’m there for 5 minutes and then fall asleep. My favorite places, the two I have been going to for the longest, are what I call the Purple/maroon space station and the open field. There was also this sort of mega hotel/resort but I had a dream that took place there that was too scary to attempt a return. The open field is basically just an endless green landscape with very little hills or mountains and just some medium height trees and I go there to ride horseback and just be at peace alone which is funny cause I have no idea how to ride a horse IRL but when I’m there it feels natural and effortless. The space station is more active there can be other people and it’s kind of a place to go to feel removed from the stress of the present and step into a world of tomorrow where things can be new and exciting with challenges but nothing hopeless. Maybe I’m weird but it helps to diminish the terrifying dreams, I’ve been plagued with vivid horrific dreams all my life, but they’re not horrific like a straight up horror blood bath but more like intense thrillers that can turn violent. For example I’ve had a dream set in an abandoned amusement/water park where I found a shack that looked like it was occupied maybe by a vagrant or something but then when I knocked on the door an older enraged man with long fuzzy gray hair and a matching beard swings the door open shotgun in hand readying aim, I of course unprepared for such a situation chose to turn and run away and he shot me in the back and I swear I felt the pain of every shotgun pellet blasting into my back and then woke up. Mind you I was only a small kid when I had that dream. When I was even younger maybe 5 years old I had a dream where there was no environment just a vast bright blank white space the only things present were some toys on the ground and a large dark male figure that had no visible features he was mostly just a very tall slender dark humanoid void almost a complete opposite of the surrounding environment and I clearly recall him standing over me and telling me that I needed to go with him and that I’d have to leave everything behind. So for me I have to try to prevent my dreams from being like this night after night but it doesn’t always work sometimes I’ll be so focused on staying in the open field and the following dream will be decent but other times it fails and I end up in some terrifying place where I’m fully in control but I also can’t do much to effect the outcome at the same time it’s like I enter an alternate reality where I’m aware and mostly in control but I can’t stop the bad things from happening. Anyway sorry for the long post just wanted to know if anyone else out there had any experience with a sort of world building in your mind maybe for you it has nothing to do with dreams but I’d be interested to hear if others have had similar experiences. Or maybe I’m just a nut lol I have several mental health issues so it’s definitely possible 😂