In My Dreams, a Cheating Heart

The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli, 1781
The Nightmare, Henry Fuseli, 1781

Last night I had a dream that I cheated on my husband. With one of his friends. After the cheating, I felt awful about it – I felt so guilty.

When I woke up, I was relieved to find that it was just a bad dream. But I was shaken enough that I felt I had to ‘fess up, which is a little ridiculous. (It may also be a sign that, in real life, I’d be a terrible cheater.)

Q chuckled: “Was it any good?”
Me: “Not really, and definitely not so good that the guilt was worth it.”

A little while later: Q: “Why did you do it? In the dream?”
Me: “I don’t know. I was turned on and you weren’t there and he was.”

Yep, that’s right. It wasn’t because I was angry or feeling betrayed. Nothing that complicated.

But the dream itself?

DreamMoods.com, which is showing me ads to “find singles in my neighbourhood” (aah!), says that my dream could be because I have “feelings of self-guilt and self-betrayal”, or “some quality in this person that I need to incorporate or acknowledge within my own self”. Hilariously, they offer that the dream: “may also reflect the intensity of my sexual passion”.

Others (namely a woman’s magazine) say it could be because I’m “giving my time, attention and affection to something that does not involve [my] boyfriend”.

I suspect it’s a little that I’ve been busy – giving my time and attention to not my boyfriend – but also maybe that there’s some quality in the person that I should acknowledge within myself.

Or at least, it would be, if I believed what I read on the internet. 😉

Bustle had a funny article on cheating dreams, if you’re interested.

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