I just realized that I can't recall ever seeing a face in my dreams even though I'm convinced that there is definitely a visual component in my dreams. Yet, I 100% know who I'm interacting with (or running away from...). I rarely remember my dreams, other than a lingering feeling, unless they were truly intense. One of the most vivid ones that I had doesn't involve anybody else. I dreamed that I woke up late. I recall that the daylight was intense but somehow, something was off - I couldn't say what. After waking up (for real this time) I realized that somehow it was the furniture from a previous appartment that I saw in my dream.

Interesting... I'm 100% aphantasic. This might explain why I seem to always end up listening to everybody's problems etc... I have huge empathy but even if I feel sad for them and what they're going through - it doesn't "hurt"me. What is also interesting is that I endured 14 years of psychological abuse and yes, my self esteem was completely crushed and I had a very hard time rebuilding it, but now, it's all in the past. No clear recollections, except for a few extreme events. I think I had some type of PTSD but there was no audiovisual component to it ... just the terror and emotions popping up in certain situations. This might also explain why family members got mad at me when I told them about the abuse. I guess images/audio came up for them when I described some of the events. It might explain why they were blaming ME for the pain that my situation caused THEM ! Like, I felt I had to apologize to them because my being abused made them suffer... I guess that as long as I can't figure out how to seek comfort without causing other people distress, the only shoulders I'll be able to lean on will be my own... It's OK, I'm used to it by now... And it's nice to understand why they reacted that way. It's not their fault, they just weren't ready for those visuals...

I just realized that I can't recall ever seeing a face in my dreams even though I'm convinced that there is definitely a visual component in my dreams. Yet, I 100% know who I'm interacting with (or running away from...). I rarely remember my dreams, other than a lingering feeling, unless they were truly intense. One of the most vivid ones that I had doesn't involve anybody else. I dreamed that I woke up late. I recall that the daylight was intense but somehow, something was off - I couldn't say what. After waking up (for real this time) I realized that somehow it was the furniture from a previous appartment that I saw in my dream.

Interesting... I'm 100% aphantasic. This might explain why I seem to always end up listening to everybody's problems etc... I have huge empathy but even if I feel sad for them and what they're going through - it doesn't "hurt"me. What is also interesting is that I endured 14 years of psychological abuse and yes, my self esteem was completely crushed and I had a very hard time rebuilding it, but now, it's all in the past. No clear recollections, except for a few extreme events. I think I had some type of PTSD but there was no audiovisual component to it ... just the terror and emotions popping up in certain situations. This might also explain why family members got mad at me when I told them about the abuse. I guess images/audio came up for them when I described some of the events. It might explain why they were blaming ME for the pain that my situation caused THEM ! Like, I felt I had to apologize to them because my being abused made them suffer... I guess that as long as I can't figure out how to seek comfort without causing other people distress, the only shoulders I'll be able to lean on will be my own... It's OK, I'm used to it by now... And it's nice to understand why they reacted that way. It's not their fault, they just weren't ready for those visuals...