The Atlantic

Why Adults Still Dream About School

Long after graduation, anxiety in waking life often drags dreamers back into the classroom.
Source: Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty.

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I have a recurring dream. Actually, I have a few—one is about dismembering a body (I’d rather not get into it), but the more pertinent one is about college. It’s the end of the semester, and I suddenly realize that there is a class I forgot to attend, ever, and now I have to sit for the final exam. I wake up panicked, my GPA in peril. How could I have done this? Why do I so self-sabota—oh. Then I remember I haven’t been in college in more than a decade.

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