Feelings of stress, anxiety, and fear have filled many Charlottesville High School students’ minds during the Covid-19 pandemic. Notably, when virtual school took the plunge into full effect, these cynical feelings started taking effect on student subconsciousness, the part of the mind that is not in current awareness, and in recent regards: their dreams. Many students have noticed changing themes exhibited in their recent dreams, many of which have become increasingly unsettling these last few months.

Science has previously linked that the situations and feelings one faces throughout the day take a substantial effect on the events revealed in their dreams. The connection between possible trauma and dreamscapes may be for one’s benefit, enabling them to overcome stressful situations or feelings subconsciously. Now you may be thinking, well yeah, but what does it have to do with the recent months following Covid? That is where this article’s main topic comes into play: the recent phenomenon of pandemic dreams.

Throughout quarantine and the early weeks of virtual school, students have had to face a whole new challenge throughout academic learning: tiring zoom screens and blank household walls. Problems such as these have created a particular social shelter which has aided in the theft of previous highschool stimuli, replacing it with cooped up feelings of growing stress and urgency. In a recent article published by National Geographic, journalist Rebecca Renner explains that, “The lack of this daily stimuli has left dreamers with a dearth of “inspiration,” forcing our subconscious minds to draw more heavily on themes from our past.” This lack of inspiration Renner describes may have caused dreams to rely on more negative feelings since those seem to be a focal point in everyday life. Turning towards Charlottesville High School students, a combined 44.4% “maybe”, and 39.9% “yes” compile the opinions students have regarding the possibility of relating feelings of stress being revealed in their recent dreams.

Many students reported noticing themes of death or hyper realistic situations regarding stressful conditions with family or friends. A number of students reported waking up feeling out of reality, while some even went so far as to say the dreams affected their mental space during the following day.

“There’s this one certain place I’ve gone to a lot more than I usually do when revisiting dreams. I’ve also dreamt about a lot more dead people,” said freshman Phin Green-Marshall. Following these specific themes, it becomes apparent that pandemic dreams have embodied the swirl of negative emotions which seem to rule our daily lives: those of isolation, stress, and fear.
While this could be looked at as a negative, dreamwork such as writing down specific themes or feelings which come when dreaming may be therapeutic. Additionally, discussing the subject and reaching conclusions about how personal feelings may manifest themselves in life situations will be crucial in digging deeper into how to cure this unrest and discomfort.