False Awakening

I will never forget that moment when I thought I will never wake up again.

It was supposed to be a great day. I ended the day with a wide smile on my face as I enjoyed the moment of hanging out with my friends around the city. We were roaming from one place to another, never getting tired no matter how far we went. We had an amazing time together as we shared so many stories both happy and sad. As it got dark, we decided to eat together, and after that, we parted ways. As we went home, we even did a video call together and laugh again for that day's experience.

As I went home, I rested for like an hour and prepared my stuff to clean myself after roaming around the polluted city. I prepared a hot bath to release the tiredness that I have in my body. After taking a bath, I did my skincare routine at night as simple as cleansing my face, applying toner, moisturizer, then essences. So far, I ended up that night nicely and I was so ready to sleep.

As I was about to sleep, even though I'm prepared to sleep, I could feel like I still don't want to sleep. I could feel like something's stopping me to sleep, but I don't know why.

It was past 10 in the evening when I decided to sleep and rest for the next day is another day to celebrate. Of course, I never noticed that I was already asleep. Then my dream started to play in my mind, but I was not aware that I was witnessing my dream already.

Not to mention, I could see myself bringing my back and my books as I walk towards our classroom. I was holding my books on the left side and my bag on the right. I was walking so nicely when I noticed that something's walking towards me. I didn't mind it and continued walking. Then I noticed that it was a black cat that's moving fast like it's a walking glitch. I never felt scared at first as I love cats in the first place. But as the cat was just in front of me, I noticed that it looked at me gradually in my eyes the as it opened its mouth, I could hear an unpleasant sound of the radio without a signal. It didn't sound like a cat, but just purely radio sound when there's no signal.

As I cover my ears, I realized that what I'm witnessing was a dream then I told myself that it was a dream. Then something surprising happened. The world turned like scribbled lines and I didn't know what to do but to convince myself to wake up.

Luckily I wake up... that's what I thought. I thought I was already awake as after I woke up, I sit and relax. However, as I try to stand, I was in the same dream again that I'm sleeping and trying to wake up. At this moment, I was quite having a hard time waking up, since I expected that I was already awake, but I was not. After that, I wake up again, but I noticed that the same thing happened wherein I thought I was already awake, but I was only awake in my dream, not in the reality.

As the thing continued to happen, I started to shift the event on me trying to wake up in the reality. It was so hard to wake up as I can't move my body, and I can't even open my mouth to ask for help. It seemed like my body was paralyzed. I was feeling hopeless since it was too hard to convince myself to wake up. My eyes were trying to open, but it's so hard to open. Then, what I did was close my eyes and pray to God that He will let me wake up from that nightmare. I was in great pain as I can't open my eyes, I can't move my body, and I can't even wake up in the real world.

Moments after that moment I prayed so hard to God, my body felt a bit lighter and I can move my body again. Thankfully, I was able to wake up in the reality. As I woke up, big sweats are around my body like I was in a marathon, but I was just sleeping with the nightmare and false awakening on my side. I drank a lot of water after that, and I had that feeling of not wanting to sleep as the trauma of that nightmare kept on haunting me like it's a ghost in my life. It did give me a phobia of the unknown. It made me afraid of dreaming as I don't want the same thing to happen again. I don't want to feel how worst it was being able to witness something unlikely.

Until now, I still can't imagine where would I be now if I wasn't able to wake up from that worst dream. The thought that I was alone that time felt scarier as I didn't have anyone to wake me up when that worst thing happen. I'm still grateful until now to God that He was with me to that worst time. I will always hold that gratefulness to Him for helping me out on that crazy dream.

Even until now I still wonder why I dreamt about those stuff wherein in the first place, I was feeling good before I sleep. I was feeling so refreshed and my mind was clear and happy before the worst happened. After that event, I read a lot of articles that happened the I did what other people did; those who are experiencing the same thing. Their pieces of advice are as follows:

Drink One Glass of Water

Don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean we should only drink one glass of water the whole day. It simply means that we should drink one glass of water before going to bed. I don't know what's the scientific explanation on why it helps, but I'm doing that thing before going to bed. So far, I haven't experienced such a nightmare the moment I keep this habit with me. Not to mention, even how tired or lazy I am to get a glass of water, I would still do it, as my phobia in nightmares is scarier than being tired of getting a glass of water.

Clear Negativity in Our Minds

I have learned that we should clear the negativity in our minds before going to bed. We all know that our heads are preoccupied with a lot of stuff due to work, studies, or even just the happenings of our day. With that, as much as possible we would try to unload those thoughts before going to be. We could either play our favorite music to clear them or do anything that will open positivity in our minds. On my part, I usually listen to rain sounds. Aside from it could clear the negativity in my mind, it could make me sleepy; double purpose.

Pray

We should never forget to do this before going to bed-- pray. Prayer works all the time. Through praying, we could communicate to our God and ask guidance from Him to protect us and our loved ones to sleep. Needless to say, I also love to pray not just to give thanks to Him for all the blessings He has showered upon me, or for guiding me, but I love it as I can communicate with Him.

Indeed, being in a false awakening situation is never easy. It could give us trauma when going to bed. Howbeit, if we ever experience this, we should keep faith and pray that we will be able to sleep in peace and wake up the next day with a beautiful smile on our faces.

Anyway, who among you have experienced false awakening before? I'd love to hear about them.

Lead Image Source: Photo by Kat Smith from Pexels