A recent greentext post about an imaginary wife made me think of this.

Have you ever had a dream, where you fell in love with a dream character?

I’ve had at least a couple over the years that I can vaguely remember. The dreams were so vivid, and the feeling of love for this imaginary person was so strong, that I woke up feeling rather heartbroken and a sense of longing.

Anyone else?

  • JaggedRobotPubes@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Once, in the middle of a long and happy relationship, I had a dream where there was simply no reference to my partner in the dream, background or foreground. My brain went on to invent a person who was lovely in every way. We were equally crazy for each other and it was absolute heaven.

    Then my brain went “yeah but you’re with your real life partner so you basically cheated” and I woke up.

    Fuckin wiseass brain pullin shit lol

    • tacosanonymous@lemm.ee
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      17 days ago

      I’ve had a few where i was knowingly cheating on my wife. But there were some weirder ones where the dream lady and my wife would be interchangeable at various points or meld into one super lover.

  • LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz
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    17 days ago

    I met, fell in love, got married, bought a house, started a family and grew old together with a woman i met in my dreams. In one night, i lived a lifetime. It was so super realistic that I woke up devastated that it was a dream. It took me weeks to stop thinking about it constantly throughout the day, and even to this day I still think about it occasionally going on 15 years later.

    • ValorieAF [she/her]@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      On the flip side, I once had a super vivid dream that my wife started ghosting me, and left me for someone else. Years passed and I was still alone, lost interest in all of my hobbies, had to get rid of our pets, and I caught up with her randomly and she looked like she was much happier and better off, and I was so upset in the dream that I considered suicide. Woke up and was relieved that it was just a dream, but frustrated with my brain for putting me through all of that.

  • OldManBOMBIN@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    I had a dream that I was driving a horse cart down a dusty gravel road, and riding next to me was the greatest love I’d ever felt - she was a rotund Native American woman.

  • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
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    17 days ago

    Got no time for love in my dreams - I’m busier with tomato fights, becoming a pig, running from a T-Rex, watching aliens to spit on a tree to wilt it down, and killing a person to resurrect an ancient god.

  • e0qdk@reddthat.com
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    17 days ago

    I’m not sure if I’ve ever fallen in love with a completely imaginary dream person, but I did dream about my ex once years and years after we broke up. I don’t remember what I dreamed about exactly, but I do remember waking from it. The happiness fading as the realization set in that it was all a dream – I was by myself in bed and none of it had been real. I’m usually pretty good at dealing with solitude, but that moment… that was the most intense loneliness I think I’ve ever felt.

  • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    I have vivid dreams to the point I’ve had to mourn entire lives that were never even real.

    Like Roy from Rick and Morty.

    The worst ones are when it was a very fulfilling life and then I have to wake up and accept it never actually happened.

    • SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      If I may ask, what was an example of a detail of that fulfilling life? And is it not possible to attain in this one?

      • ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        A life without all the trauma and self harm. A life where I had all the support I needed to actually thrive and make something of myself. Sometimes it’s just a life with a past love where everything turned out okay. Other times a life where I chose a more profitable career because I didn’t need chaos to feel normalcy.

        I’m a very broken individual so it’s not really hard for me to dream up a scenario that’s infinitely better than my reality.

        That’s part of what hurts so bad waking up and realizing I’m back in my own life.

  • durfenstein@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Yes, once. I was incredibly heartbroken and confused for three days. It sparked me going onto dating apps. Where i found my dream wife.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Yeah, once or twice.

    It’s really disturbing, and I generally dislike them because of the emotional leftovers.

    The emotion is real, and the worst part is that it tends to stick around. Most dreams you just forget. But for some reason the one or two of these I’ve experienced it has left a longing and a desire to sort of go back to that dream, the person in it, the level of feeling I got, which of course is impossible. I have a family and love them all, so I don’t know why my brain threw this at me. It’s not like I’m lonely.

    I wonder what the psychology and brain chemistry is with that. Why your brain makes up the person, the feelings, and why it sticks around when all the other dreams generally vanish.

  • theedqueen@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Not fell in love per se but I had a dream I was getting married and it was clear my partner and I were really in love. There was a sense of happiness I felt that made the dream feel so real. Was sad when I woke up.

  • Tracked@sopuli.xyz
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    17 days ago

    I met my celebrity crush twice in a dream. It was the best dream ever but I can’t barely remember the details, I hope we had sex or something but again, is hard to remember.

  • Richard@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Definitely. Not often, but when I had them, they were strong and affected me for the remainder of the day.

  • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Absolutely. Has been a hot minute though. In my late teens and early twenties I regularly woke up depressed AF knowing that what I just felt was all just a dream.

    Haven’t had this in the last two decades or so, but you never fully forget the feeling of helplessness as you realize that “bliss” actually exists, but it’s perpetually out of your reach.

      • Einar@lemm.ee
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        17 days ago

        “Falling in love” and “love” are quite different from each other.

        That said, yeah, the feeling can be quite fleeting. Being a chemical response doesn’t make it less intense or even less meaningful, though. Sadly? Fortunately? 🤷‍♂️

  • Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.ee
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    17 days ago

    Yes and I hate it. I’ve struggled a lot with loss, and my dreams always used to remind me of this. I would wake up from wonderful dreams sobbing because it was a version of life that was just on display. At this point in time though, I have pretty much curbed the commonality of me dreaming.