How long have you been retired, or removed from a job, and still have nightmares of really screwing up?
I drove a ready mix truck for 17 years. Haven’t been in one for 6 years now. But every now and then I’ll have nightmares of burying the truck in a lake or backing it into a hole. It kind of sucks.
February 27, 2026, 11:34 PM
LastCubScout
I don't have nightmares about work, but I have nightmares about college every once in a while, like maybe once every two years. I graduated in 1994.
In my dream, I'm about to graduate, but I realize I forgot to drop a gym class that I haven't attended in months. I'm running around trying to clear that from my transcript or I won't be able to graduate. It gets me every time. In the dream, I'm thinking, "I've had dreams about this, but this time it's real!" Then I'll wake up, and I'm like, "AGAIN?! DAMMIT!"
February 27, 2026, 11:44 PM
Mustang-PaPa
I graduated high school class of 1976 and I still have nightmares about not graduating for some stupid reason.
February 28, 2026, 12:11 AM
Pale Horse
You know this is a crazy topic for me.
I have hyper-realistic dreams annd always have. I have such realistic dreams that there are times that I am not sure what is real and what was a dream. I’ll have conversations in my dreams with people and when I talk to them in real life I think they know what I’m talking about.
I have dreamt about work a lot but only when I am stressed about work. There have been days when I show up to work in the morning and feel like I already worked a full day because I dreamt about work the night before. I wouldn’t say I have nightmares about work, just that I have very realistic dreams about it.
I have dreams about my personal life the sane way. I have a lot of dreams about interacting with my friends and family at times and sometimes can’t remember what conversations were real or dreamt. It definitely fucks with my mind. But it’s also kind of fun because I’ll wake up from a dream that was good and go back to sleep to continue that dream.
“Everybody wants a Sig in the sheets but a Glock on the streets.” -bionic218 04-02-2014
February 28, 2026, 12:13 AM
bendable
Yes, not so much nightmares as horribly frustrating dreams.
Whenever this happens, I can almost always attribute it too a circumstance or situation in my life that is causing me similar grief, something I can't control causing me grief .
Safety, Situational Awareness and proficiency.
Neck Ties, Hats and ammo brass, Never ,ever touch'em w/o asking first
February 28, 2026, 04:46 AM
sgalczyn
Not retired - mine happen every day 9-5................lol
"No matter where you go - there you are"
February 28, 2026, 05:02 AM
airsoft guy
Those are stress dreams. When I'm stressed, I'll have dreams where I'm back in high school. And not back in high school, but for some reason I'm there now. Like I need to get there from work, and I'm still in uniform. In the dream, I'm 40 years old and wondering why I'm so fucking worried about missing an assignment. The fuck are these clowntards going to do to me? But still, I gotta play the scenario out.
quote:
Originally posted by Will938: If you don't become a screen writer for comedy movies, then you're an asshole.
February 28, 2026, 06:01 AM
cslinger
Never work but school all the time. Usually college. They either manifest as me being somewhere I “go” or should know in the dream but I have no idea where I am and don’t know where to go etc. I’m usually late for test or have no idea where I am suppossed to be going to or something. Sometimes I am taking or going to an exam I have NO CLUE ABOUT. It’s always stressful.
I also have lots of dreams where my life is slightly different. Different house, different people in my life, different job or any number of other small differences. They are not usually stressful or “scary” just odd like I’m living or seeing another branch of a potential life. I have these quite often and they are always different.
Could be all the cocaine who knows?
Take Care, Shoot Safe, Chris
February 28, 2026, 06:08 AM
DanH
quote:
Originally posted by Mustang-PaPa: I graduated high school class of 1976 and I still have nightmares about not graduating for some stupid reason.
February 28, 2026, 06:21 AM
gjgalligan
April 1 it will be 14 years that I have been retired (time is just flying by!) and I often dream I'm at work. I wouldn't call them nightmares as no bad things happen. Often the work part is mixed with people and events that happened since I retired.
Integrity is doing the right thing, even when nobody is looking.
February 28, 2026, 06:42 AM
calugo
I'm retired and occasionally I'll dream about work and some of the people I worked with in the military but they're just dreams and not nightmares. I do have a weird dreams often that have nothing to do with work, a lot of my disturbing dreams involve someone chasing me.
February 28, 2026, 07:03 AM
92fstech
I'm not retired, but I still have nightmares about work. And it rarely has anything to do with actually doing the job...it's typically related to stressful interpersonal or management interactions.
On the flip-side, I've solved problems in my sleep before. Sometimes I go to bed frustrated by something that I can't figure out, and then have some weird dream about it that causes me to look at the problem in a different way and I wake up in the morning and tackle it from a totally different direction with good results. Could be anything from a case that I can't figure out to something broken on my truck.
Any comments made by this poster are my own and do not reflect the views or opinions of my employer.
February 28, 2026, 07:42 AM
roarindan
hired in 1978, fired in 2003. I have dreams about that place whenever anything stressful influences my life. A friend that worked in the psychology field told me that it helps to keep a journal of daily routines and any occurring dreams. I've noticed when the lottery jackpot in around a bazillion dollars I'm have a work dream.
___________________
"the world doesn't end til yer dead, 'til then there's more beatin's in store, stand it like a man, and give some back" Al Swearengen
February 28, 2026, 08:25 AM
fischtown7
Never about work, but occasionally about being married again and having lost my freedom.
February 28, 2026, 08:25 AM
k5blazer
Been retired over seven years and I still have nightmares about work. Have them about college too.
February 28, 2026, 08:36 AM
rat2306
Seven years for me having retired, and I still have dreams/nightmares too. Same old struggles and agendas with many of them going back to '88. This morning was different; dreamed the Navy recalled me to active duty at current age.
February 28, 2026, 09:01 AM
.38supersig
Never had dreams about work or school. Mine usually involve other stuff:
Sometimes stealing horses, abandoning a space colony, finding a miniature flaming skull under floorboards of a house,
killing aliens by depressurizing their ship, living in a storm drain, trespassing on a military base in Chicago,
Getting thrown into another dimension and making back out, killing a general, the Dirac equation...
Then there was when I traveled through time from 1936 to rescue a guy's wife from a dragon. Injected the dragon with
a four gallon shot so he could no longer breath fire. Started walking her home and by the time we could see the house, I realized
she was such a bitch, we turned around and I gave her back to the dragon. Gave the dragon the antidote, and left.
Nothing about work.
February 28, 2026, 11:33 AM
Fredward
I'm 20 years retired from an extremely stressful job. I still have nightmares about that job, although they're not as bad or as often as the used to be.
February 28, 2026, 11:36 AM
sjtill
I've been retired for 11 years. The dreams of frustration regarding medical issues have gradually diminished. Usually something simple like I'm supposed to be the attending over medical residents on the wards for a month; I arrive at the hospital but don't have a beeper(!). Can't reach the residents. Last week I was yelling in my sleep, which I do occasionally. I don't remember what I was dreaming but not related to medical issues.
_________________________ “Remember, remember the fifth of November!"
February 28, 2026, 12:59 PM
Bulldog7972
quote:
Originally posted by 400m: How long have you been retired, or removed from a job, and still have nightmares of really screwing up?
I drove a ready mix truck for 17 years. Haven’t been in one for 6 years now. But every now and then I’ll have nightmares of burying the truck in a lake or backing it into a hole. It kind of sucks.
Who did you drive for? I drove for Material Service p/t for a few years to put the kids through school.