The 3-Month Sleep Experiment (2021)

If you are new to this "experiment", I suggest reading at least "A Dreamless Sleep" and recommend also checking out part one, simply for context. "Night Walker" is also useful, as it details my previously nocturnal walking and insomnia issues in the past, but "A Dreamless Sleep" is the one I suggest if you read nothing else.

This is basically what my new dream journal has looked like since I stopped using recreational cannabis in September of 2021, since recreational cannabis makes it so I cannot have/recall dreams. I have taken this hiatus so that I can record what dreams I have for several months before seeking out a therapist - in part for lifelong sleeping issues.

At this point, this is month two of the "experiment". I have only used CBD the last two months and have been recording my dreams as soon as I wake from one for the most part. I have also stopped smoking CBD as late into the evening as I usually would, mainly to avoid worsening seasonal breathing issues I've been having at night the last few years. This may lend itself to why I've recalled so many in succession this month as I have even less THC in my system when I head to bed (CBD requires a small amount to work, but it is minimal). I have also taken to inputting the dreams directly into this article after my few bits of a normal daily routine, so that I can recall even more details that may not have been jotted down in the middle of the night, rather than like in part one where I entered all the dreams at once at the end of the month.

Once again, I hope someone besides me and that future therapist finds this to be interesting or useful. I suppose it's mainly just a dream journal at this point, but I've not let myself have months of dreams for several years now, so in that regard, it's still important. Especially for that upcoming therapy.

November 2, 2021:

I quickly lost most context for this dream, but in it, I was waiting in line for some new tech with my half-sister.

November 3, 2021:

This dream, I flew to New York to visit my (former) best friend. Not long after landing, there is a fatal shooting on a public transport system; I walk by at least five people laid out on the sidewalk and do not know their status. My friend's mother is upset and takes us into a hair salon. There is one man in particular I see, and I cannot help but wonder if he is the shooter for some reason. My friend's mother gets into an argument with her sister at the salon with the sister saying nasty things and indicating that my friend's mother doesn't do anything right. This pisses me off to the point that I puff up and confront her in defense of my friend's mom, and the sister laughs at me - in a way of respect; she appreciates that I have the guts to stand up to her, without actually saying it. I later apologize to my friend's mom for the protective outburst.

The oddest parts of this were that 1) I ghosted my former best friend of 17 years nearly 6 years ago and 2) I know what her mom looks like and that was not her mom. I also don’t know if my former friend’s mom even has a sister; I forget some of their family dynamics and never really met any other relatives.

November 4, 2021:

Oh boy! I had 3 dreams that I can recall this night! A rarity!

In the first dream, a Mr. James "Bucky" Barnes AKA the Winter Soldier from Marvel's Captain America/The Avengers and I keep bumping into each other and having a stare-down. No words spoken. I've been waiting for one of these - I'll write about what likely kicked this off in another piece!

The second dream, my mother and I have another blowout. To the point, she somehow finds a previously unknown secret door into my bedroom in my partner's home and enters through it to harass me.

The third, while helping my aunt and uncle in South Dakota, I am instructed to get something from a fridge locked up in the detached garage. While locked previously, when I go to the garage, the door is now unlocked and the entire fridge is missing! Turns out neighbor boys forgot to re-lock the garage.

November 5, 2021:

This was another of those restless nights - the dry autumn air and the heater that's been kicking on has made it harder for me to breathe the last month, especially at night, and I had trouble falling and staying asleep because I couldn't get comfortable and was wheezing some. How annoying. Managed to get around 3-4 hours and it was interrupted. That said, there were two brief dreams, and I really only remember a scrap of each of them.

First dream, blue and green macaws; I had spent all day the previous day working on my second - and last - entry for "The Scarlet Macaw" challenge on Vocal.media. After all day looking up images and information on the birds to make sure things were accurate, writing a 3,000 word entry, editing, adding images, submitting and hoping it would be published without issue, it's no surprise that the colorful plumage danced in my head for a brief moment.

The second had more context, but most of it was quickly lost as I woke up. I also (probably due to how poorly I was sleeping) was not as stern about my "write it down as soon as I realize I'm awake" rule, and had tried to roll over and go back to sleep. I feel like it was a somewhat chaotic dream, but the only thing I could really recall a few minutes after rolling over was something about a beef roast. Which sounds delicious right now, by the way. This is the week in my cycle that I usually start craving red meat.

November 6, 2021:

I kind of remember waking up a little frantic and disoriented at some point, but whatever I was dreaming about was gone by the time I gathered my senses. Can't say I'd usually describe waking up at any point as frantic, so... I don't know what was going on.

The dream I do recall is one taking place in the online game World of Warcraft. In it, I was in the underwater zone, Vashj’ir, seeking the usual mob: Poseidus. A giant seahorse, it drops a mount - the Subdued Seahorse. I farm the mob for the mount so often, the zone layout was 100% accurate!

Any case, in this dream, I am looking for the mob (mob meaning a Non Playable character or creature that you can attack) and notice that the whale shark rare, Mobus, is dead in the distance. Then a Druid in its aquatic form zips by and as I draw near the seahorse, I see it die and leave its corpse behind as well. My excitement that I might reach Poseidus first fell to mild disappointment, but at least I knew when it was last killed so I could do other things and come back when it was likely to respawn. Some respawns in the game are hours long, so it's good information to know.

This exact thing has happened to me several times in the years I’ve farmed the mount; it’s kind of entertaining how accurate everything was in this dream - it played out precisely how it does in the game! Now the question is: was my subconscious simply recreating something that I do multiple times a week, or is the rare instance of someone beating me to the mob and killing it symbolic of something else?

For the record, if fellow players of the same faction are looking, Poseidus can be killed and looted in a group, so maybe try to share if you are aware of someone else looking in the zone? I sometimes post listings in Custom Groups, though I mainly do those for other mobs instead, as Poseidus tends to get sniped by others while I'm waiting for someone to figure out how to get to the zone - the portal to which is initially locked behind a few quests. That said, if you are seeking the mob, a Custom Group listing stating that is likely to catch my eye Horde-side NA, and I am likely to go look for you and invite you to come get it should I find it up.

November 7, 2021:

Good grief, another with three recalled! To be fair, I slept a lot longer this night; the demands of preparing for periods and crappy sleep the night before, let me tell you.

The first dream: I (as an adult) am adopted by a large, religious family. For context, I am an Atheist and both of my parents are still alive in real life. The family seems nice - offering that I sit on a sunny porch, read books, and enjoy brushing my hair as I am often handed a hairbrush (or maybe that was just a hint). However, everything comes off a little too nice; it feels fake, and like there is an unspoken tension somewhere.

The second, I dream my mother, sister, eldest nephew and I are going to take a drive. After I use the tiniest toilet ever - basically having to cram in and there's hardly enough room to move without bumping my elbows on the walls of the stall - my mother has issues with it; she cannot find or reach the towel to dry her hands. After, my eldest nephew searches grocery bags we brought in, looking for candy for us to eat. The rest of us all know that we already ate it, and my mother and I don't have the heart to tell him after he's been so determined to look for us. Eventually, my sister announces to him that we have eaten it, and we seem to head for the car.

The last, I am driving kids to either trick-or-treat or a Halloween party/sleepover. Strange in and of itself as I fear driving and avoid it after several kind-of minor accidents I was a passenger in, I don't trust my reaction time enough if something goes wrong on the road, and I have an astigmatism in each eye in real life - which makes night driving terrifying.

Any case, before most of these kids even get out of the car, one of the older ones who already went inside this house is on the floor just inside and is having either a seizure or other reaction/medical emergency. All I can see is their sneakers and the indication of involuntary shaking from the driver's seat.

November 8, 2021:

In the first, I am dragged by my ankle down through the water of a lake. Another woman’s voice reaches me, telling me to, “breathe through [her] vision”, and I find I am able to breathe underwater. I am then dragged into what the voice claims is the underworld, where I am introduced to stuffed pieces of strange, large fish. Mild terror only at the breathing underwater bit. Curiosity at the fish. Underworld? Pfft.

In the second, I am helping family pack up from a home in a forest. Seems to be my uncle from South Dakota’s, as he seems sad to leave it after "40 years". I walk into the woods to admire this place he loves with my own reverence, but not far in it turns to a grassy field. In it, my friend Matt runs by with his hands in the air. When I don’t follow, he comes back and does it again, running to a school bus nearby. He hops in the driver's seat and I barely hop on before it starts to take off. The back half of the bus is pretty full, but up front there's very few people. When I sit down up front, I recognize a lady who was rushed to help with something previously, despite that I don’t know or recognize her in real life.

November 10, 2021:

Dream a guy is moving out of a room and I am moving in. He leaves all kinds of small things, including a small pair of keys. Then, while brushing my teeth, my dad chats with me. Through the course of his speaking, I manage to ruin and pull out the bristles from my bamboo toothbrush so they are completely uneven.

November 11, 2021:

First one, I dream my parents, brother, and I get a table on a patio on a busy Friday. Not much else, mainly it's just how noisy and crowded the space is.

Next, a young bear has fallen prey to a cannibalistic older male - possibly the father - while the other two cubs nearby quietly stand around. There are claws from the dead cub on the ground, but the dead cub is never seen - everything is inferred.

Last, my family goes to a rodeo, but we cannot see as we are on a flat roof and there is a wall of people standing at the roof's edge.

November 12, 2021:

First, T.V. show hosts use "our" backyard (not quite right) to film a show, but hail drives them inside after we invite them in. They wind up scattering in our home, milling about.

Next, a famous woman (actress or some such sort) leaves her phone in the back of a limo with the children of a fan. The dad is enamored by the texts from his celebrity crush. Later, a pushy man tries to drive the boat the famous woman is on, but the owner has only given another woman who he trusts permission to do so.

And third this night, I dream I am in World of Warcraft, trying to sneak - as my Rogue main - into a building in Stormwind to talk to an NPC there. I am somehow placed at the top of huge, towering statues, and me and my boyfriend must navigate down them without being seen to talk to the NPC (with me constantly wondering how he is going to get by undetected, as he is not a Rogue). We wind up sliding down and around them like in Disney's Tarzan.

November 14, 2021:

This night, I dream of walking among and admiring displayed replica fossils. I appear to be alone, but the room is bright enough to see. The fossils seem to be those of prehistoric mammals, but nothing that I can readily identify. There is the feeling that this display room is secluded - not somewhere many would get to be.

November 15, 2021:

After about 4 hours of dreamless sleep, I got up for equal time awake before heading back to bed, wherein I had a dream where I and two kids I don't know were making face masks for COVID-19 from book covers and book covers from masks. At some point, we are in my parents' house and my mother comes down undressed, to which I exclaim, "Mom! Go put on some clothes!"

There was also a scrap memory of another dream that appeared to be sexual in nature (consensual). Pity I cannot recall more, as they are rare.

November 16, 2021:

First, I keep bumping into Sam and Bucky from the MCU. No real context - everything else was dark, in shadow... Nothing ominous, just... bumping into fictional characters.

Second, there is a huge section of carpet in the lower level at my parent's that is wet with urine - wrapping paper tubes leaning on the wall nearby seem to indicate someone pissed on/through them? Brain, what the fuck???

November 17, 2021:

I dream I confront my mom about how she treats me overall. I even puff up in anger. But, as would be expected in real life, she just laughs at me. Of course nothing is her fault. She’s done nothing wrong. She is leaving for work, but forgot her hair clip on a table, so I throw it outside for her and slam and lock the door. I mock her attitude in the conversation to my dad, who is putting chicken in the oven. I then tell him to enjoy his time with me now, because they won’t be seeing me for some time.

Second, aboard a ship, one of my aunts and another woman keep a trunk from sliding off into the water. Later, they and a teen girl are showering together, and I must step in to hand over shampoo and conditioner. The two adult women leave and I am left talking to this naked teen, asking her if she needs soap for the other shower she will be using for her stay and mentioning a few other mundane things like a host would, despite the building not looking familiar to me.

November 18, 2021:

First, a close family friend's son is sent over to drop off something for my dad. He wants to give it to him himself, presumably so they can chat, so I direct him to the backyard where my dad and another family friend (who passed away 4 years ago) are doing yard work. However, my dad is in/out and doing a bit of everything, so the kid is going back and forth and struggling to locate my dad. Eventually, the other family friend opens up the side gate into the backyard. Tired just dreaming about it! Ugh.

Second, Bender from Futurama makes an appearance. Unable to get a driver's license by normal means, he pretends to be a deceased man (basically, identity theft). All is well for him until he and the car following him are pulled over. A cop asks him about the, "funny cigarette" he has and a car chase ensues. Somehow Sam/Falcon of the MCU winds up on top of one of the cars, holding on desperately (wings may not have been working?). Very active dream with the sense of adrenaline.

November 19, 2021:

Many dreams tonight, though I had also felt incredibly low the 18th and I went to bed about 11:30 P.M., slept 12 hours, and then wanted to go back to bed not long after getting up the 19th; still feeling incredibly low. Honestly, much more and I would have called it that all-time low, where I start wishing I didn't exist. Yeah... so... Any case!

First, I dream my partner of 7 years and I are getting ready for a date night, but we disagree about something, and it turns into a bit of an argument.

Second, a very odd dream about my main character in World of Warcraft. Apparently, she was messaging about sexual acts on a mob in game; a version of a mountain lion. And since chat could see the "RP", she started getting very angry people messaging her. Again brain, what in the fuck?!?

Third is for the birds! In it, I frantically help my parents pack up the van and the truck - a blue and green macaw in a birdcage in the bed of the truck. A flying reptile - pterosaur - chases the truck as we all take off in the vehicles, and it tries to nab the macaw through the bars of its cage. Meanwhile, I am in the back of the van, trying to close the sliding door as an angry flamingo tries to get in. Yes, that's right; a freaking pink flamingo! I fail over four times to close the door enough for it to latch, fearful the bird is going to get in and attack my (special needs) brother next to me. Very active dream - adrenaline and fear rampant.

In the last one this night/day (12 hours asleep, remember?), I am with my aunt and uncle in South Dakota. A young teenage boy I don't know sits at the kitchen table and offers me and another girl I don't recognize pills he is prescribed, presumably for depression. The girl takes one. I hesitate, and wake before a decision is reached, though I was reaching for it uncertainly.

November 20, 2021:

A killer is loose in my old neighborhood. I appear to be a bit younger and am invited to a school dance. Peers offer me a ride, but my mother insists I take my dad. He is very loud when he orders us drinks; so loud, everyone else goes quiet. He orders rum and cokes and then tells the bartender to keep the change, which the bartender seems to appreciate. Sense of sneaking while walking through the neighborhood, suspicion of my peers, and taken aback even in the dream at my dad ordering rum and cokes.

November 21, 2021:

My dearest cousin agrees to watch one of our aunt's apartment and cat. Never mind that our aunt owns her own house and does not have a cat. Third person dream.

Also, this is the day I ran out of CBD to smoke; the rest of the experiment will be done sans cannabis.

November 22, 2021:

A former friend and I take turns applying makeup for each other to take pictures of for reports of some sort. In particular, the color-changing lipsticks I have.

Then, my brother is in a doctor's care, and my boyfriend informs me as I turn on the heating pad for him that I cannot have it higher than .5 (which doesn't exist on the heating pad, but whatever dream). It cannot be on for more than a few minutes either, as internal structures in the heating pad have burst!

November 23, 2021:

Not much recalled, except for this gem: reading, "What happened to the Infinity Gauntlet" on a Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom forum... I don't recall having this many dreams about fandoms years ago; maybe I've been watching too many movies...

November 24, 2021:

I dream my dad and brother run into me while I'm out and about. Everyone except my mother wants me to return. When mom shows up, she jeers at me about my budget and lack of funds. I tell her I never want to see her again, and as I leave, I think that I, "wouldn't even attend her funeral". At this point, it's been about 13 weeks since we last spoke, after the family drama in "Catalyst".

November 25, 2021:

My partner’s “parents” arrive at “our” house. Quite snooty, especially when they see planks for fencing and deck that my dad is putting together. There is also a box full of sleeping puppies and kittens!

November 26, 2021:

Dad and I go to find my mother at a casino. She is stiff from prolonged sitting and has not been eating or drinking while playing the slots. She laughs at our annoyance that she is not taking care of herself and is delaying us by continuing to play.

The next dream, I am exceptionally late to a new class when I find that I just cannot get my locker to open. Another, older woman insists I open one above mine, and her attempts to bust open other lockers distract me every time I try entering in my combination for the lock. I then help staff with something outside of the building and then barely complete a test in my class that I arrive so late to, but not before nearly missing the questions on the back of the paper. Stressful dream, especially the bit on the lockers.

November 27, 2021:

This was a rather lengthy dream, but it's pretty coherent!

In it, I download a dating app with the sense that I am lonely and unable to see my boyfriend (sense was he was out of town for a long time and I was staying at my parents'). I choose a state I am not in - Arizona - and connect with a guy, just intending to chat.

Fast forward to a day where I am still at my parents, and this guy shows up unannounced. I am so enamored, I wind up locking my bedroom door and we apparently wind up sleeping together, as the sense in the next scene is that I am sore from such activities. My parents appear to have opened a restaurant in the lower level of the house, which they have expanded, and I am to help out for the night when no staff show up.

Cut to another day when I am out and about, and I run into the guy again. This time, after hooking up, the sense of semen dripping into my underwear afterwards causes me to become overwhelmed with guilt; not only have I cheated on my loving boyfriend in this dream, but in real life, his ex girlfriend had cheated on him several times, and that knowledge pervades the dream as well. My joy over the connection had overridden my good sense, and my boyfriend did not deserve that. I fret talking to him about it; in real life, we've both discussed and agreed - if you can't be loyal, it's better to end the relationship first. Again, the real-life attitudes and conversations make their way into the dream, so the guilt is there. The other guy senses the change in my demeanor, and he becomes disgruntled and leaves, flying off to some job.

I am then confronted by a lesbian, who thought she and I were dating - she has found herself a lover, and I am relieved that I don't have to worry about her again. As I struggle to bring myself to confess to my boyfriend, I follow two stoner guys into a store, where one is harassed by the store manager for supposedly having stolen from the store previously. She makes him grip a bottle, to get his fingerprints on it, but when it is set aside, the other guy moves it back into place on the shelf.

Overall, it was a fairly stressful dream. I don't know where the cheating thing came from, as I have been nothing but loyal to my partner of 7 years. I suppose it could be a stand-in for another issue in real life, but I don't know what. I can't ever just have a normal sex dream, can I?

November 28, 2021:

My uncle from South Dakota has to return his work truck - but not before we milk the deadline for all it's worth and take it into the mountains one last time to do a little work for the family.

Second one, my boyfriend buys me an expensive stone necklace/bracelet combo from a pawn shop, where the woman behind the counter explains I'm somehow putting them on wrong...

We then walk into some strange building to find that there are autograph signings going on. We get ours from someone who could be a classmate from my elementary school, and then get pictures. My boyfriend's turns out fine, but I somehow mistake the printer as something I can carry the images in, so I walk off with it. By the time I realize my mistake, I return it, and find that it has jammed. Also, my pictures never turn up. We walk into an even lower level, and there is an uncomfortably crowded arcade. Here, my boyfriend proposes with the jewelry set, though it's just him asking me while standing feet away.

Shifts to Pam and Jim from the US version of The Office, both aghast at the proposal.

First off, I've never desired marriage; when we had been dating a year, my boyfriend would tell me he wanted to marry me, but after I told him I'd never been much into that, he's since always told me that he wants to spend his life with me. So that there is even a marriage proposal in the dream is odd to me. More so the inclusion of autograph signing, which I've never understood the desire for, and the inclusion of characters from the show, which I've not watched in years.

Also, I found this almost comical that a proposal dream followed the cheating one the day before.

November 29, 2021:

Played out like a comedy!

An animated baby unicorn (yes, you read that right) wants to return to the forest, but can't figure out how to navigate human cities. A man living out of his car seeks work and sees a logging truck parked next to him - he gets the job off the bat because they need loggers. When he returns to his car, he finds the baby unicorn in his back seat. The next day, he chalks it up to seeing things - until the unicorn, either shape-shifted or using an illusion - shows up to work with him as an "Emo" kid. The unicorn ends up as the driver of the logging truck, and narrowly avoids a car accident; whether it was his fault or not is unclear.

The interactions were funny, but I sadly don't recall any of the dialogue. Good grief! What a strange string of dreams...

November 30, 2021:

In the final dream of part two, my dad waits in the parking lot while I go into a Dollar Tree/dollar store, where I pick up many pans, cookie sheets, and silicone baking molds. I am allowed to run them out to the car before paying, and then lie about how many I took (13 instead of 25). Then, I pick out several sugary sweets for "school lunch" the next day. When we get home, I gorge on chips and salsa, craving the sugary things I got. Ends with my dad mentioning something about my brother having a ton of hairspray in, which never happens. Sense of sneaking food and hiding things throughout.

It's been a mixed bag of themes this month. As the family drama - and silent treatment - continues week after week, it comes as little surprise to me that my parents again feature in so many, and most of those are confrontational. I was surprised how many featured World of Warcraft or fictional characters, as those were practically unheard of years ago before I started using recreational cannabis to sleep dreamlessly. There were not as many dreams featuring killers and rapists again, and I once again chalk that up to the focus being on the issues with my parents. Or maybe I will have less of those now and into the future for some reason, though clearly some dreams still hold to those themes. I do wonder if I would be having more of those darker themes if this unusual family drama was not going on.

Even just over a week without smoking any cannabis is rough; it's such a part of my daily habits anymore. The next - and final - part is going to be rough, simply for that reason. But at least I have been able to go to sleep this time. It's a huge improvement over when I tried to quit cold turkey at the beginning of this "experiment". But I will be so glad to start smoking recreational cannabis again come December 27th; dreaming is exhausting, and I can't wait to turn everything "off" again to sleep.

I do wonder what that future therapist will have to say. Maybe nothing; maybe something. And I wonder how weird the last month is going to get....

To read part three, click here!