Maybe you’ve moved on, maybe you’re with someone new, and then out of nowhere, one day you wake up feeling pathetic about yourself for dreaming about your ex. Relax Hun, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re still in love with them. And you’re not cheating on your current lover either. It happens to many people and is more common than one might have you believe, but just to be clear, it does pop a question in your mind, why would you dream about him now?
Reasons You Dream About Your Ex
We’ve got you covered with these reasons that might be why you dreamed about your ex.
1. Wanting Closure
Dreaming about an ex is a natural response to a breakup that did not allow one person in this case, you, to express their feelings at the end of the relationship to their satisfaction, or in some cases, at all. Unconscious thoughts about your ex could be related to your need for closure and may help provide some level of emotional resolution. Nevertheless, stressful situations and experiences that occur during our waking hours are well-represented in our dreams.
2. Wanting Your Current Relationship To Work
If you’re in a new relationship, you may be dreaming about your ex more than normal. Don’t be alarmed because this isn’t a red flag. Since your previous relationship did not work out, your unconscious may be reviewing this old relationship to make sure you are not doing the things that may have caused your previous relationship to fail. There may also be some anxiety surrounding your new romance since your last one did not work out. That anxiety can be expressed in your dreams too.
Also Read: Does Dreaming About Someone Mean Love?
3. Wanting More Romance In Life
Dream About Your ExIt’s only normal that you’d want to revisit happy periods and relationships once in a while, so if you find yourself dreaming about love from long ago like a high school sweetheart, for instance, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re still thinking about your 17-year-old SO in a romantic sense. Depending upon how good your last relationship was if you have nothing going on in your current love life, this is an easy time to start thinking about when you were last in a romantic relationship. Also, if you’re feeling lonely, again, from an unconscious perspective, dreams are where this loneliness can play out, and a positive person from the past in your life is likely to be called upon by your unconscious to help.
Even if you’re having dreams of a more close, sexual experience with your old love, that still doesn’t necessarily indicate a sexual attraction to them (though it could). But it could also mean that you have some untapped desires or fantasies that you might want to discuss or explore with someone.
4. Something simply reminded you of them
All it takes is a whiff of perfume or having to deal with someone in your waking life in a way that’s even roughly related to your ex for them to make an appearance in your dream world. However, they might not have done much in the dream itself, something you encountered during the day was enough to unlock a resting memory of them that manifested itself as you slept.
5. You’re moving on
Did you relive your breakup by having a dream about breaking up over again? This could be a really good sign, that you’re breaking up with the part of yourself that your subconscious mind associates with your old love. Particularly if your former partner hurt you, this could be symbolic of your progress, the process of separating yourself from the part of you that was hurt by your ex, and getting your agency back.
These could be the reasons you still dream about your ex. However, as we mentioned, there is nothing to worry about even if you do have a disturbingly romantic dream about your ex-love. If you know it, you know it. You don’t have to count on your dreams to tell you the way you feel.
Anyway, if you do end up feeling heartbroken, we recommend talking about the situation with a friend or close ones. Chances are you will probably get over the feeling in a day or two. Don’t try to overthink it.
Also Read: Types Of Dreams And What They Mean
