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According to the website, ‘Totaljobs’, 55% of employees dream about work with nearly a third admitting to having nightmares about their job at least once a week. According to global search data, the most common work-related dreams range from going to work without pants to getting robbed at work! And what’s that old co-worker doing in your dreams?
Dreams Expert Inbaal Honigman says dreams are the mind’s way of communicating with us. “If there’s something we’re concerned about in our waking life, it will likely bubble up to the surface in the night.”
He adds that not all dreams about your workplace are always work related, however.
“It could just be the locations most associated with our everyday life. It is if you dream a lot about work and work-related issues, particularly if you have recurring dreams about it, that you can assume your brain is trying to give you a message.
“This could even be early indicators of burnout, like having too many stresses at work or simply too high a workload. Good dreams about work, on the other hand, can be signs for future success,” he explains.
Experts at CVApp.de wanted to find out the meanings and causes of the most common work-related dreams, so they compiled a list of the most common dream topics using global search data, and then asked Dreams Expert, Inbaal Honigman to interpret each dream and their causes.
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With about 2 400 searches globally, the most common work-related dream is about being late for work.
Honigman says this is a common anxiety dream.
“People will experience this dream, when they feel they’re not good enough at their job or no matter how much effort they put in, they still can’t fulfil the minimum expected standard.
“This doesn’t mean that the person experiencing these dreams is really incapable of performing their work well, it is simply an expression of their worry that they might not be. Another reason for this can be if their work isn’t praised by their superiors, especially if they work hard on achieving results,” he explains.
The second most searched work dream, with 150 searches every month globally, is about getting into trouble at work.
This is another anxiety dream, which, according to Honigman, is there to vent your anger about how things are handled in the workplace.
Inbaal says, “In the dream, we say awful stuff, the boss says awful stuff, and we find ourselves in trouble”.
The dream expert explains that the brain is trying to play out arguments that would otherwise threaten our position or career, ‘in the safe environment of our dream’. The reason for this anxiety dream is most likely that you are not being heard at the workplace, which is important to tackle in real life.
#3 Dream about promotion at work
As opposed to the two anxiety dreams mentioned above, the dream sliding into third place with nearly 1 000 searches a year is less of a nightmare. It’s about being promoted at work.
“A promotion dream could be a prophetic dream!” says Inbaal. “If you’re having this dream, it could mean that your subconscious has picked up positive signals, such as that you’re doing very well at your tasks, or that perhaps promotions were talked about at work. Whatever happens in the workplace, this dream is a sign that you’re doing great at your job.”
#4 Dream about old work colleagues
Dreaming about workmates in days gone by can be either positive or negative. If you’re happy to see your old colleagues, Inbaal says, it’s probably a sign that you’re missing how you used to feel about yourself in the old job.
“Work colleagues represent the way you used to solve problems, so if you’re excited to see those old workmates in your dream, you probably miss the way you used to deal with challenges.”
On the other hand, if you’re not very happy to see your old colleagues, you probably are more content in your current job than you were then.
“The no-pants dream is an old trope that can pop up in many situations. Many people dream about having no pants on at school, while giving a talk or even at their own wedding.”
With 360 global searches, this anxiety dream ranks fifth among the most common work-related dreams worldwide. It is often a way for the brain to express how frightening your work situation is to you subconsciously.
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If you’re dreaming about being replaced at work, like around 240 others who search this dream every year, this is probably due to the fact that some workplaces regularly remind their employees that they’re replaceable.
These superiors or employers believe this to be motivating, when in fact, Inbaal says, it has the opposite effect.
“The resulting insecurity, which your subconscious experiences and displays in a dream, more often motivates workers to find a different job before it’s too late. If you are repeatedly dreaming about being replaced, then your brain is probably right in telling you to do just that: replace the job before your employer replaces you.”
This nightmare is of a more serious nature. She says employees can be made to feel insecure or unsafe at work “if there’s a toxic culture of ‘banter’ for example, where it’s fair game to ridicule a colleague”.
This kind of toxic work environment will cause such nightmares as getting robbed at work, and it definitely needs addressing with HR.
“There’s no excuse for a work environment that feels dangerous to some of the workers,” Inbaal says.
If you’re having this anxiety dream, chances are you are worried this could really happen to you. According to Inbaal, this could have one of two reasons.
“Either your work is very dull to you, or you are chronically under-slept. More generally, this could mean you feel uneasy in your work environment and your sleeping habits or day-to-day tasks in your work might need to change to make you feel safer.”
Just making the top ten most searched work dreams, are of course those of a more romantic variety. While you might think that this shows subconscious urges of a racier nature, Inbaal says, these dreams actually mainly suggest you are comfortable in your job, “as if you can be your true self there”.
She adds, “If the dream is a little more passionate, then it could show that you’re a little bored at work and need to spice up your working day”.
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