Hormesis Writing Exercise Reflection

I was 7 years old when I had the worst nightmare of my life. It was a Friday and the entire day had been going normally. I went to school, came back, ate some food, played until 8:30 PM, and then got ready for bed. I was sleeping in my living room on the floor, with my brothers when the nightmare occurred. The nightmare in question was a countless number of angry ghosts attacking me in the same spot that I was sleeping in. The ghosts were screaming something that I couldn’t comprehend and they surrounded me. My eyesight was also blurry, so the only features that I could discern were the ghosts’ humanoid forms and pale white skin. The moment I entered this nightmare I was screaming my head off. I didn’t care about who heard me or what happen would happen next, I just indulged in my fear. The nightmare lasted about 20 seconds tops, but by the time I woke up, I was still screaming. Despite my mother’s efforts to comfort me, I kept screaming until my father woke up. He told me that I could sleep in his room and I did just that. When I entered his room and laid down, I was able to sleep peacefully. Till this day, I don’t know what triggered the nightmare. I didn’t watch anything scary or think negative thoughts so the cause of the nightmare is a mystery to me. Strangely enough though, I never had the dream again despite remembering it so vividly.

Reflection: After taking a cold shower, I was able to sort my thoughts more smoothly and ignore my bias. I think the discomfort of being in a cold shower for about 10 minutes cleared my mind and made me feel less self conscious about how my story would be perceived. This freedom helped me make my story detailed and accurate to my experience.