By Emina Cirkic

Waves crash onto shore as her eyes adjust to the beauty around her. Her skin soaks up the sunlight, and she feels the warmth deep in her bones. Her toes squirm and squish in the sand as the wave brings a flood of water to her feet. Vanessa Roman, Div. 283, is in paradise. Suddenly, a ringing sound fills her head: the bell for her next class. She shakes out of her daydream and proceeds to class.

Daydreams are a common escape from reality many students use to get through the long school day. They act as a refuge from a boring lecture, muggy day, or a distraction from surroundings. Daydreams sometimes pose a deeper psychological meaning and are related to things a person does, sees, and experiences during the day.

“Daydreaming is essential, a profound and highly significant human function,” said Dr. Maria T. Lymberis, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA in a 1993 LA Times article,The Human Condition: Why Do We Daydream?. “What someone daydreams tells a lot about a person–who they are, what they are, what their personality structure is, their internal problems and vulnerabilities.”

Common themes for daydreams include several topics of fantasy: Love, Glory, Escape, Revenge, and Victory.

Victory

For Debbie Onofrei Div. 267 life is constantly changing, but one thing always remained the same-she was going to become a surgeon. Her daydreams revolve around becoming a surgeon and television shows that portray the lives of surgeons. Most of her daydreams take place with the Grey’s Anatomy cast and setting.

“It opens with me standing outside and several ambulances rush into the parking lot. A paramedic brings a patient whose heart has stopped. I do CPR and after that stops working I pound his chest with my fist.” said Onofrei, “His heart starts again. I feel victorious!”

Mia Irizarry also has many daydreams about her dream profession. Since she was a little girl she has always wanted to become a veterinarian.

“I was on a safari and I got lost in the jungles of Africa. Then, I saw a tiger crouching in the bushes. The tiger was about to attack me, but then it just fell over. Its paws were bloody,” said Irizarry. “I tranquilized it and bandaged its paw up. I saved the tiger’s life.”

In Irizarry’s daydream, she was lost in the beginning. This can signify a loss in motivation or direction in life. She is lost until she finds the tiger, a symbol for her future and what she wants to do for the rest of her life. After she finds and saves the tiger, she knows what direction she wants her life to go in.

Love

During teenage years, teens often fantasize about being in love. Whether it be about falling in love with a celebrity like Taylor Lautner, or dreaming about asking that girl in 2nd period to prom, it all has to do with the theme of love. Daydreams about love often suggest a craving for affection or signify love as an immediate goal.

“I daydreamed I was dating this Mexican gangster and was in love with him,” said Sarah Hanses, Div 266. “We were in L.A. and then I was getting initiated in his gang. The daydream lasted for 20 minutes!”

Hanses had this daydream in Spanish class. When she is bored in any of her classrooms or does not understand what is going on while the teacher lectures (like in Spanish class), her mind tends to drift and she falls into a daydream easily.

“After watching the commercial for Breaking Dawn, I daydreamed I was making love with that vampire from the movie. I was on an island with him and everything. It was so weird,” said Cristel Kolmeder, Div 257.

In daydreams, there is often a link between what is being dreamt and emotions experienced in real life. According to SLD, vampires are thought to possess high agility and speed. Kolmeder’s dream may have indicated that she searched for someone with great power and perfection in life.

Escape

It was eighth period and Onofrei, could hardly wait to go home. Her eighth period was her worst class; her teacher was horrible and she never learned anything. She usually just sat in class quietly, but today she had to talk to her horrible teacher. She had a terrible argument with the teacher and walked out. Onofrei hailed a cab outside and went straight to O’Hare airport. She walked through security and hopped on a plane going straight to Hawaii. She escaped her problems back home.

Daydreams about escape create a needed excitement and thrill in a daily routine.

Psychologically, daydreaming about escape can mean there is an underlying problem in the subconscious. It can be a problem you are trying to avoid or cannot solve. During escape daydreams, you escape from the problem. According to the Secret Language of Dreams (SLD), “Seeking an island for refuge reflects a craving for solitude or a conviction that most problems in life come from other people.”

“In drafting class, I daydreamed I was a unicorn. I didn’t want to do work, so I flew out of the classroom and into space,” said Caleb Smiley, Div 556.

Glory

Daydreams about heroic acts often indicate the need for power or respect. Daydreamers might dream about being a hero because they feel helpless or powerless.

“I daydreamed that I was [my class’s] savior from terrorists. It was an apocalyptic scenario and I was the superhero,” Anthony Quezada, Div. 452, said.

Quezada has this same kind of dream repeatedly in different classes. He likes being a hero and saving his classmates. These daydreams give him superhero qualities.

Another student, Gary Williams, Div. 452, daydreamed he had a different kind of superpower while he was in class.

“In my daydream, I knew the answer to every question anyone asked me. My teacher asked me some complicated problem and I knew the answer. I got money and fame [from my superpower],” said Williams.

Williams daydreamed this scenario while he was in class when his geometry teacher asked him a complicated question and he answered correctly. He daydreams the most when he sits in the back of the class; Williams daydreams about eight times daily. Many people daydream about what is occurring in the surrounding world. The numerous superhero movies and comics that glorify extraordinary abilities contribute to daydreams about glory.

Revenge

Revenge, it is surrounding our lives all the time. From trashy women getting their “man” back on Jerry Springer to annoying siblings at home, revenge is a constant temptation in life.

“I’ve daydreamed I turned invisible and messed with people in different classes,” said Mia Irizarry, Div. 279. “I daydreamed that I set this girl’s hair on fire. It’s her most prized possession, so I think I had legit reasons!”

Irizarry had this daydream in physics, as a junior, when she was bored. She had just gotten into an argument with a girl she despised. According to SLD, fire in daydreams represent destruction but also represents purity and a clean start. In Irizarry’s daydream, she dreamed about setting a girl’s hair on fire; Irizarry is purifying her life, cleansing herself of her enemy.

Daydreams about revenge offer the dreamer the satisfaction of seeing a person suffer for the wrong they have done in the dreamer’s life. It may not be reality, but the daydream acts as a replacement for what a person can really do for revenge.

“I daydreamed in my second period class that the annoying and loud kids that sit behind me got arrested and beaten up,” Cristel Kolmeder, Div. 257 said.

According to the Secret Language of Dreams daydreams about violence often times represent a struggle for self-assertion or a fight against unwanted aspects of life.