The Start: Facing the Recurring Nightmare
Woke up sweating again after dreaming about a car crash. Same damn scene every time – screeching tires, metal crunching, that stomach-dropping feeling right before impact. Happened three nights straight. Tried brushing it off like I usually do with bad dreams. Didn’t work. Ghost of that imaginary steering wheel kept shaking my hands during breakfast.
First Move: Getting Real with Myself
Sat down with my cheap notebook after dinner. Wrote down every detail I could remember:
- Was I driving or just a passenger? (Passenger this time)
- Any specific road signs? (That blurry green exit sign kept popping up)
- What happened right before the crash? (Radio suddenly blasted static)
Felt kinda silly at first. Then noticed my palms sweating while writing. Okay, maybe not just a random nightmare.
The Experiment: Messing with My Evening Routine
Changed up my pre-bed habits completely:
Cut out phone scrolling cold turkey – instead stared at boring ceiling for 20 mins. Started drinking nasty chamomile tea (tastes like wet grass). Played rain sounds on a crappy Bluetooth speaker that kept cutting out. Weirdest part? Pulled out childhood photo album. Spent 10 minutes looking at dumb pictures of me learning to ride a bike.
Mind Battle During Wake-Ups
Next time I jerked awake from that crash dream? Didn’t just roll over. Grabbed the notebook I’d left on the nightstand. Scribbled while my heart was still punching my ribs. Then did this dumb thing I read online: breathed in for 4 seconds, held for 7, blew out slow for 8. Repeated until I stopped seeing headlights behind my eyelids.
Breaking the Cycle
After four nights of this nonsense, the dream changed. This time when the static hit the radio? I imagined slapping the dashboard until music came back. Car swerved but didn’t crash. Woke up confused instead of terrified. Got up and made pancakes at 3 AM celebrating that weird little victory.
Been crash-free for two weeks now. Still drink that nasty tea though.
