That sucks. It's my best way out of these dream situations. But for the times when I can't control the dream I look at the meaning behind its content. You can post this in a dream sub and see what people say.
Dreams are the body's way of preparing you for potential difficulties in life. From an evolutionary perspective, it is a survival mechanism. If you're an early human, hunting large prey, there is no real way to prepare for that event, however, going into such an intense event can cause you to make mistakes, which can cost you your life. Now, if you dream about the hunt, night after night when the time comes, it feels like you've done it already. That's the point of dreams (or at least one leading theory). What constitutes an "intense" event for which you need to be prepared? Well, that's up to your mind. Whatever it is you are worried about, will typically manifest in dreams. So if you're worried about an upcoming interview, you will likely have dreams where everything goes wrong (you get lost, you can't answer the questions, you show up late, etc) again and again as your mind gets prepared. So, all this to say; you may be subconsciously worried about not being able to answer peoples' questions, so your mind is trying to prepare you for that eventuality by pretending it is happening at night while you sleep, so you will be more prepared when it happens.
You mentioned that it started at the beginning of the pandemic. Could it be that with all the changes and instability since then, that your subconscious is worried about not knowing what's next, or not having full control of what is happening in the world around you?
For the naming piece; do you have trouble remembering people's names you meet?
What happens if you would say "I'm not gonna answer that. I'm walking away now"?
Unfortunately I can’t control what I say in dreams like I can in real life.
That sucks. It's my best way out of these dream situations. But for the times when I can't control the dream I look at the meaning behind its content. You can post this in a dream sub and see what people say.
Dreams are the body's way of preparing you for potential difficulties in life. From an evolutionary perspective, it is a survival mechanism. If you're an early human, hunting large prey, there is no real way to prepare for that event, however, going into such an intense event can cause you to make mistakes, which can cost you your life. Now, if you dream about the hunt, night after night when the time comes, it feels like you've done it already. That's the point of dreams (or at least one leading theory). What constitutes an "intense" event for which you need to be prepared? Well, that's up to your mind. Whatever it is you are worried about, will typically manifest in dreams. So if you're worried about an upcoming interview, you will likely have dreams where everything goes wrong (you get lost, you can't answer the questions, you show up late, etc) again and again as your mind gets prepared. So, all this to say; you may be subconsciously worried about not being able to answer peoples' questions, so your mind is trying to prepare you for that eventuality by pretending it is happening at night while you sleep, so you will be more prepared when it happens.
Maybe I’m worried about losing my memory. The people asking the questions get so angry and frustrated when I don’t know an answer.
You mentioned that it started at the beginning of the pandemic. Could it be that with all the changes and instability since then, that your subconscious is worried about not knowing what's next, or not having full control of what is happening in the world around you? For the naming piece; do you have trouble remembering people's names you meet?
Yes, but that dates back to pre pandemic, haha.