The things we see whilst we’re asleep may often be distressing, upsetting, confusing, uplifting, awe-inspiring, or a convoluted mixture of these emotions. The meaning of dreams is often subjective, relating closely to things you have personally experienced in waking life.
Often, though, scary or negative dreams – like a dream of a stalking killer, for example – don’t mean what we assume they do. Usually, they provide dream points for introspection, rather than a cause for alarm.
A dream may feel like an omen or premonition, but they – just like our conscious minds – cannot tell the future. Instead, they are most likely a sign of something you need to process in your personal life or professional life.
What do specific dreams of being stalked mean?
Being stalked in your dream can take many different forms. It may even be a fantasy for you, rather than a nightmare. Generally speaking, the kind of dream says a lot about its potential meaning, and may signify such unprocessed emotions as obsession, jealousy, stress, or desire. Let’s take a look at what specific types of stalker dreams may mean.
1. Being watched in your sleep
Being watched in your sleep, in a dream, is surely as distressing as it would be to know you were actually being watched whilst you slept. However, even negative events like this may represent positive elements in your life. In the end, it depends on how you felt in the dream.
If, for example, you felt safe whilst being watched over in your dream-sleep, then this is a reflection of your comfort with a partner, parent, or roommate (someone you share your home with). It means that they are paying close attention and thus protecting you from harm and trouble.
If, on the other hand, you have unpleasant dreams about being watched in your sleep – perhaps the onlooker is a stranger, or watches you in a threatening way – then this may instead be a sign that someone close to you in life is being overbearing or threatening. Someone you may need to keep a close eye on, if not cut out of your life altogether.
2. Being followed outside
In dreams where we’re being followed, the sensation is often one of frustration and terror: we cannot run or walk fast enough to lose our pursuer, nor can we navigate our surroundings as easily as we feel we should be able to.
A dream of being followed outside is, however, less to do with the physical presence of another person in your life, and much more likely to be a symbol of persistent troubles nagging at you.
The ‘stalker’, in this dream scenario, is your own mind. You are carrying stresses or worries in your waking life which you’ve yet to fully process. Being stalked in your dream is your mind’s way of interpreting that feeling of being unable to escape those stresses.
If you experience this dream a lot, it is a sure indicator that you need to take some time for yourself, to relax and destress.
3. Being stalked in your own house
One of the most troubling dreams you can have is to dream about being stalked in your own home by an intruder. Not troubling because it symbolizes something terrible, but troubling because of how upsetting that experience can feel, in the dream state.
Ostensibly, there is a very clear reason for you to be dreaming about a stalker being in your house: you are harboring feelings of insecurity in your current surroundings, or have recently undergone an invasion of your personal boundaries.
In this dream, the home can either represent your literal house, or yourself. The stalker either has a general sense of not being settled in new environments, or someone who took advantage of your personal space.
Either way, a dream like this is cause for you to reflect on how comfortable (or uncomfortable) you are in your current surroundings, and to try and remedy the problem(s).
4. Being blackmailed by a stalker
Dreams very rarely (if ever) mean one single thing. They are our minds’ projections of our inner insecurities, emotions, repressed memory and secrets. It is the latter which we are concerned with when considering dreams in which a stalker blackmails you.
Blackmailing, of course, is the act of leveraging someone to do something against their will with the threat that, should they not cooperate, the blackmailer will release information about them which they wish to keep secret. The goal of the blackmailer may be one of total humiliation, in addition to the material reward.
If you dream of being blackmailed by a stalker, then you are likely concerned with some sort of secret you have – perhaps one which you’re ashamed of, or parts of your greater self which you are not yet ready to face. You are probably worried about the possibility of this secret coming to the surface.
Remember, dear reader, that we all have our secrets, but that if you dream about one being uncovered, it’s possible that your brain is telling you it should be uncovered. That you should embrace who you are, or own up to what you did.
5. Being chased by a stalker
Chase’s dreams are terrifying, and no doubt about it. Being chased through the woods, through unfamiliar neighborhoods, or uncharted territory in your dreams – by an assassin, a stranger, a frightening monster, a lone man – is always unpleasant. But what does it mean?
In short, it is most likely an escalation of the negative part of a dream about being followed. You are hounded by troubles, stresses and worries for the future, only in dreams in which you’re being chased, you are doubly worried.
These sorts of dreams mimic the situations in daily life which would trigger our ‘fight or flight’ behavioral response, causing adrenaline to pump through our bodies, elevating our heart rate as well as our emotional state.
As such, these dreams are often packed full of significance. Look out for other symbolic elements in your surroundings when running away from your pursuer – buildings, streets, trees, parks, your old school.
Being chased through areas from your past, or even as far back as your childhood, may signify that what you’re really running from are reminders of bad memories – reminders of negative things from your past – rather than any single little thing.
6. Being stalked by someone you know
If you dream about being stalked by someone you know, then this is probably more literally to do with that particular person. Our brains often incorporate people from our present or past life into our dreams because they represent an aspect of ourselves we need to reconnect with. However, if you dream of someone you (presently) know stalking you, it may be a little more serious.
A dream such as this may suggest that you’ve noticed – albeit subconsciously – that this person has taken an unwarranted fascination with you. It could be that your brain has picked up on the fact that there are people in your life with whom you have unwanted relationships, who make you feel unsafe or scares you. These dreams may be your brain’s way of suggesting you push them away.
On the other hand, if you dream of someone as they spy on you from afar, then this may be someone who’s been showing up on the peripheries of your social circle more often of late. They may be completely harmless, and in fact this may be more of a dream about your own interest in that person, than your fear of them.
Remember, a dream is just a dream, and doesn’t always mean something. Having said that, if you dream of being stalked by someone you know, and in the waking world you also feel like that person is being threatening, then it is well within your rights to contact the police, or a friend or person of authority, and ask for help.
7. Confronting a stalker
Confrontational dreams are not quite as common as dreams in which we are the victims, the pursued, or the scared. This is because we’re all human beings with human fears and human vulnerabilities (whether we like to admit it or not). It’s because our brains generally project dreams which mimic these negative emotions.
Sometimes, however, we make the right decisions in dreams, and wake to feel refreshed and eager to make some positive changes in our life. Dreaming of confronting a stalker is one such dream in which your brain is overcoming some sort of mental challenge whilst you sleep.
Stalkers in dreams, as we’ve pointed out before, often represent fears, stresses and issues following you around day-to-day. Thus, if you confront a stalker in a dream, it is likely that this symbolizes you triumphing over your bad habits or distractions.
The dream puts you as the winner. It is the final stage in your mission to deal with your anxieties head-on, and it is a good sign that you will not be carrying so many stresses and concerns going forward.
Conclusion
“Dreams must explain themselves”, as anarchist-thinker and sci-fi legend Ursula K. Le Guin once wrote. They carry messages which are often not nearly as hidden as we initially think.
Generally, dreams are just our brain’s weird way of overcoming challenges and solving problems, or alerting us (the conscious projections of itself) to things we should be considering in waking life.
If you dream about being stalked, you are probably stressed, unsettled, hiding something, or uncertain about a particular person or set of surroundings. Take time to consider your dream, and make positive actions in your daily life to confront whatever’s bothering you.