Thank you. I hope you are correct! I was starting to let this manifest in my wakeing life. In the dreams I am living a normal life as a woman but I can remember being a man it is like being a man is the nightmare and the dream is real it is depressing when I wake up. I was starting to believe the dream was an omen of the way things should be.

What do you mean by "I was starting to let this manifest in my waking life"? In what specific ways did it manifest?

Dreams have long influenced waking behavior in good and bad ways. What makes it good vs bad is how well its message is understood or misunderstood. For instance, some who dream of driving off a bridge to their death will drive miles out of their way to avoid driving over a bridge in waking life. That dream is really about feelings of concern not making a safe transition (driving off a bridge) from one place in your waking life to another... such as making a career change, a change in your personal life, such as being married to being divorce and single, etc.

The first question you have to ask yourself about a dream is whether it or parts of it are literal or symbolic. The waking life background that generated your dream should help you answer the question. The odder, stranger, seemingly crazy, bizarre or unlikely it (or any component of it) is, the more likely it is symbolic. A well-researched dream dictionary can help you with the symbolism.

If you don't accurately reconcile your dream's meaning with your conscious feelings and awareness about its subject, it is likely to recur until you get it or until the waking life circumstances change causing you to have different feelings about it. For a recurring dream to change or go away, your feelings about its subject have to change.

That being said, there are some feelings we have that present similarly in our dreams, but are about different waking life issues. For example: anxiety dreams. Many "running late" or "not being prepared for a test" dreams seem recurring... but they aren't about the exact same issue/problem in our waking life, just similar ones, such as concerns about an upcoming presentation at work or school or versus concerns about deadline to pay a mortgage on time.

How, if at all, have your dreams changed, if at all, since considering the symbolic meaning?

The dreams caused me to question myself. It has caused a lot of difficulty in my marriage. I have worked really hard to put this behind me because my wife and family are the most important things in my life. The only problem is that the harder I try to put this behind me the more realistic the dreams become also I have started to break out in hives from my nerves. I do have several issues in my past and a few finacial problems now and I have tried to rationalize the dreams and the problems as being a possible escape mechinism from my problems current and past but it is doing more damage then the problems. Any ideas on how I can face these dreams and move on with my life before I lose my mind. Thank you for all your help.

If the symbolic meaning doesn't resonate and the dream continues, causing you ongoing concern, why not schedule an appointment to consult with a professional? Because dreams are reflections of your feelings, talk to a feelings expert... a psychologist or psychotheripist.

Good luck!

Thank you