Last week, I had a particularly terrifying dream. I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night, covered in cold sweat, my heart beating so fast it felt like someone was drumming on my chest. The dream was filled with snakes, especially one large, black snake that kept staring at me. It felt so real that when I opened my eyes, I sat up immediately, afraid it was still there.
My grandmother once taught me a method: as soon as you wake up, write down the dream immediately. So I quickly grabbed my diary, writing frantically while catching my breath, not even bothering to eat breakfast. I wrote down every detail of the dream, afraid I’d forget it later.
I started researching to figure out what the dream meant
I first looked through the old Bible at home. In Genesis, I read that the snake symbolizes temptation, like the one that tempted Eve to eat the fruit in the Garden of Eden. This made me wonder if I had done something wrong recently. But then I flipped to Numbers, where it says that Moses made a bronze snake and hung it on a pole, and anyone who looked at it would be healed.This shows that snakes are not all bad; sometimes they can also bring help and healing.
I looked up a few posts about dreams online and found that many people have dreams about snakes, with roughly three interpretations:
- Some people think snakes are a reminder to beware of temptation.
- Some people believe snakes represent fears that have been hidden in the heart for a long time.
- Others think snakes may be telling you that your body or emotions need some “repair.”
These interpretations made me think seriously: What is wrong with me?
The snake in my dream was actually my stress talking
I reread the dream I wrote in my diary. Although the black snake was large, it did not bite me or move, just stared at me quietly. The strange thing was that it made me feel “heavy,” as if something was pressing on my heart.
Then I suddenly realized—my company had recently taken on a new project, and I had been working overtime, taking on a lot of things by myself and not being able to talk to anyone about it. I had been putting up with it and pretending that everything was fine, but in reality, I was exhausted. The snake in my dream might have been a representation of the pressure I was feeling inside.
When I thought of this, I felt a little lighter. It wasn’t ghosts coming to find me, but my body and mind shouting, “Hey, you’re too tired, it’s time to rest!“
I tried a simple method, and it really worked
That night, I decided to try a simple method. Before going to bed, I placed my hands gently on my chest, closed my eyes, and whispered, ”Please tell me what I need to let go of right now.” I wasn’t reciting a mantra, I was just saying this sentence to myself very seriously.
I also imagined taking all the worries from work one by one, putting them in a box, and gently pushing it toward “God” or “the universe,” meaning: I’m not going to worry about it anymore, I’m going to rest first.
The next morning when I woke up, I felt particularly calm. There were still strange images in my dreams, but they weren’t snakes anymore—I dreamed I was swimming in a very clean river, the water was clear, and the sunlight was warm.
I told the pastor at church about this, and he laughed after listening: “You know, sometimes those scary things are actually your body’s warning lights. It’s like when a light comes on on your car’s dashboard—it doesn’t mean the car is broken, it’s just reminding you to check it out.”
Now I understand: dreams aren’t scary, they’re helpful.
After that dream, I’m no longer afraid of snakes. I still don’t like real snakes, but I know that snakes in dreams aren’t enemies. They’re more like reminders, telling me where I’m uncomfortable and where I need to make adjustments.
Sometimes, we have so many things on our minds that we forget about them ourselves. But dreams quietly tell us the truth. They don’t need words; they just use images to show us things we can’t see.
So now, I no longer fear nightmares. I ask myself, “What is this dream telling me?”
Perhaps every strange dream is a mirror, reflecting our truest feelings.
