The One Where Our Dreams Are Definitely Trying to Tell Us Something

Why do stress dreams feel so real, and what do they reveal about what’s actually happening underneath the surface?

In this episode of Unfiltered-ish, Natali, Carina, and Nicki talk about overwhelm, ambition, anxiety, burnout, and the strange recurring dreams that seem to appear during stressful seasons of life.

What starts as a conversation about facials, conferences, travel schedules, and feeling emotionally overloaded quickly turns into a deeper discussion about stress dreams, subconscious processing, and why our brains seem to work through problems while we sleep.

They unpack:

•  Recurring anxiety dreams 
•  Stress dreams and dream interpretation 
•  Feeling overwhelmed by opportunity and responsibility 
•  Burnout, ambition, and emotional exhaustion 
•  Why successful women still feel like they’re drowning sometimes 
•  Business pressure and decision fatigue 
•  PTSD, nightmares, and anxious dreaming 
•  The emotional toll of leadership and caregiving careers 

They also share some of their strangest recurring dreams, including:

•  Ice collapsing in Antarctica 
•  Showing up late to a marathon 
•  Forgetting you have a baby 
•  Getting lost trying to find a hotel room 
•  Driving a car that won’t stop 
•  Tiny horses appearing in dreams for absolutely no reason 

Along the way, the conversation explores friendship, emotional support, nervous system overload, sleep, and why talking with the right people can sometimes calm your brain more than productivity ever will.

If you’ve ever Googled “what does my dream mean?”, felt emotionally overwhelmed by your own success, or wondered why your subconscious seems louder during difficult seasons of life, this episode will feel deeply relatable.

Unfiltered-ish is a women’s podcast about friendship, personal growth, burnout, ambition, anxiety, midlife, and the conversations we don’t always say out loud.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, I'm Nikki, and uh this morning I got a laser facial and a chemical peel. My first chemical peel, actually.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Hi, I'm Karina, and this morning I got what they called a diamond glow and a hydrofacial.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Hi, I'm Natalie, and I fell asleep in my makeup last night. You did not have a facial.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Well, if you've been here in Salt Lake with us, you would have gotten a facial. So it's really a matter of location more than anything else. I wish I was there with you guys.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

No, get in the car. I know if I wasn't leaving for Hawaii on Tuesday, I'd be like, yeah, for sure, come for at least a week.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

I think if I wasn't going to Seattle soon, I would go.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Oh, when are you leaving for that? Wednesday. Yeah, it's just funny. The timing has been crazy because I just saw Natalie, the two of us saw each other in DC, and Nikki has been here in Utah. Have I?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Or have I been in DC as well? Uh, I decided that I wanted to pretend like I was there. And uh so I made some AI photographs of me taking selfies in front of the Lincoln Memorial and taking selfies in front of the Washington Monument and sent them to them being like, I'll see you guys tomorrow. And then uh pretended like I went to the wrong bar. And I did, in fact, put on my computer to play music as if I were in a bar and stood in your shower, Karina, and um uh pretended like I was at uh the wrong bar. Because that's the kind of stuff that I get up to when you guys are not with me.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

It's just really funny. And like then we just barely saw each other all in Phoenix, but then I'm on the road again. I mean, I came home yesterday and I'm on the road again in three days, and then it sounds like Natalie's on the road again in five days. Maybe you're on the road again in seven days.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Yeah, I'm gonna drive out, drive back to Wisconsin for some Mother's Day time in yeah, next Friday.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Yeah. So, like kind of all seeing each other, but also just all over the place, the three of us.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah, April's a April's a busy month for you guys.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

It is not it's a busy month in terms of like tasks I need to accomplish, but you guys are all over all over the world this month, which maybe explains why I feel so overwhelmed right now, and I'm not even a huge overwhelmed person, but I literally feel like I'm drowning. I feel like I could bust into tears at any moment. I feel like I can't keep up. I am just I don't know, like I can't breathe.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Oh, honey. Are you just working around the clock, Natalie? Or are you having some breaks?

SPEAKER_02 2:55

I'm definitely having some breaks. I stayed up later than normal last night working. It just feels like there are big things I need to accomplish and I need to make headway, but I'm barely making headway because there's all these little things that come up. Like I was just in DC for a conference. Well, I needed to go to that conference to learn what's happening in the geriatric world and to get my continuing education. And then next week is Seattle for a conference. And then it's like, when am I supposed to get work done? And it feels like everybody needs you, everybody wants you, everybody's contacting you, and it's like, but when do I work work? You know, and then to keep up with podcasts and keep up with emails and keep it's just like I I can't.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

I hear that. I I get I I know that I've gotten to that place when the the words in my head are everyone wants a piece of me. Everyone wants a piece of me.

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Yeah. What I just feel like I don't want to talk to anybody. I'm like, can everybody just leave me alone? That's how I know I'm like really on the verge of this is not good.

SPEAKER_03 3:58

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Yeah, I don't get overwhelmed very often, but I did the second day of the conference I was at. And I think it's just because I got a lot of dreary news. And all of that news led me to think, I thought I was kind of at the end of this thing that I was working on. I was like, okay, we're gonna get everything turned in and we're good. And now I'm like, oh, Karina, you're gonna be in this for the next two years, like still. And I think I think it's more of the upset of feeling like, okay, we're at the end. Oh, but we're at the beginning of the next thing.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Yeah, it's like you just got to the top of the mountain and you realize there's a whole nother mountain that's even higher and you have to go climb it.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

Like you just hit only the first lookout. Yes, that's and you thought it was the top of the mountain. I was like, yes, we've we've hit it. Nope, it was the first lookout.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Right. But if you had known that, would you have even started and done it? Like sometimes it protects us to not know what we're getting into. Otherwise, I feel like, oh my gosh, are we gonna really embark on this?

SPEAKER_01 5:01

I I don't think I think I would have embarked on it, but I wish I had known what I know today because I would have done it differently. It's kind of like, okay, let's go and let we'll use the mountain analogy. You're walking up the mountain and you figure out by the time you get to that first lookout, you're you look down, you're like, I took the steepest part. I could have gone on this other path that would have just been a little bit easier and probably better. But oh, I just took the steepest route. And now that screwed me over. And as I look up, I'm like, I don't know what the best route to go forward is going to be because I'm now in a really weird spot where I'm just have to stay on the steep path.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

But that's that's the perpetual problem, right? With anything is that you don't know what you don't know. So you could you're only you only have that wisdom in hindsight, you know. But I mean, I thank God we didn't know how hard business was when we got into it, you know, like to to know how much it was going to challenge us professionally, challenge us personally, like shake shake our lives upside down sometimes. I don't think people, and I think that's part of why people are like, I'm sorry, and then they get into it and they go, I think that's why there's so few people that actually stick with it, because it's it takes there are times it takes everything that you've got. Yeah. I agree. I don't know if I have a solution for you since I think it's something that we all Yeah, I'm not sure this is a solution thing.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

I honestly think maybe some really good sleep. Oh, and then the other thing is when I'm feeling this way, it's like the little things start to be big things. Like for instance, my house is a mess. My laundry, my kitchen, my bed. I'm just like, and so then I get annoyed that I can't even have the peace and comfort of my home, you know? And uh I just get into this spiral. Again, this doesn't happen often, but I'm really feeling it right now. Um and I and then I struggle because I feel like I should be grateful. I look at what I'm complaining about, look at what I'm overwhelmed about. I'm overwhelmed by opportunity, I'm overwhelmed by people wanting to collaborate, by people wanting to talk, by all of these really wonderful things. It then I get sucked into a almost um like how dare you, Natalie, even get to this point. Like you should be so grateful that this is your life, you know? So I have like that thing.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Yeah, I think it's totally valid to be overwhelmed by wonderful things, you know, it overwhelmed, effectively, you're overwhelmed by opportunity. It's still too much stuff, it's still more stuff than you can handle. And might even be in some ways, it's it's extra hard because at least when it's projects where you can go, all right, I'm not gonna start this one now. I I know I need to start this, I want to start this project, but I don't, I don't really want to do this project anyway, so I'm gonna put it off. But when it's all wonderful things, it's extra hard to prioritize and extra hard to say no, and especially in an industry like that, everything that you do helps people, which makes it that much harder to say no to anything because anything that you don't do, yeah, is not helping people. Does that make sense? It's yeah, it's but of course, if you don't help yourself first, if you don't put on your own oxygen mask first, nobody helped.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Right. It's like we know all these things, and we we've been here, we'll get through it, it'll get better, but it's still like when you're in the thick of it, it's miserable.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

So you do need a good night of sleep, though. I do, everything is so much worse with bad sleep. Right, I agree. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Speaking of sleep, I mean, I probably am overwhelmed and don't even realize it because I told Nikki the dream that I had last night. It was a dream that I went to and my friend Jamie Preston, who lives near me, she's always an adventuresome person. And she was like, I'm going on a trip to Antarctica. I need you to come with me. And I was like, Of course, I'll come help any way I can. But we get down there, and for whatever reason, it was like a village. There were all these houses and suburbia, apparently in our Antarctica, on the snow. But like every time we would like, we would climb, we'd have to climb on these houses, and then like the snow would break off and the house would go under. We'd like be scrambling to get to the next piece of ice. We're like trying to keep on land, basically. But like the ice and the snow kept like breaking down and falling into the ocean. And I was just like scrambling, trying to keep up. And there's lots of us, like lots of people trying to do this. It was really weird. And then Nikki was like, uh, I know what that means. I was like, what does that mean? What did you say, Nikki?

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Um, it's you can't find stable footing. You're you're trying to find everything feels unpredictable and feels unstable, and you think it's going to be stable, and you stand on it, and then all of a sudden it's unstable, which is, you know, effectively what the takeaway from your university meeting last week. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

We got a kind of like um a state of the union. That's what happens at these meetings we go to, and we go through all, not all, but the major bills that have uh impact on post-secondary education. And it is, there was enough disturbing things that have happened in the last little bit that I felt like I had to restrategize like our entire plan for uh like considering any number of things in relation to the government. And it it really made me take two steps back on how big or how little I might make this university because if the government is involved, then we are going to have to take some drastic steps. And I think that's not overwhelming I think it's just feeling like how do I ever uh how does anyone ever found a university when the government um changes every four years and the players change often within, and and this is not even related to actual political parties, it's within the politics themselves. So um yeah, so like when Nikki said that, I was like, oh yeah, that makes sense. Like I'm trying to climb and I keep getting on pieces of ice that are just falling into the ocean.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

So do you two think that dreams have meaning?

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Yeah. I think that they are often, yeah, symbolic meaning for me. I wish that I had like prophetic dreams. I wish sometimes I just have stupid dreams based on what happened in the day, but my dreams are are almost always metaphoric.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

Yeah, and it seems like maybe when we are more overwhelmed and anxious, are it reflects in our dreams. So yesterday I was listening to a podcast, and there's this neuroscientist out of Stanford, and he part of the podcast was about dreams. And it was very interesting. Uh, he thinks he has discovered why humans dream in the first place. So basically, when our brains um our different areas of our brains are responsible for different things. So we have like a visual processing area of our brain. And when you are born and you are blind, you still have a visual processing area of your brain. However, as you aren't getting visual input, other parts of the brain starts taking over. So maybe that becomes more of a motor focus or a sensory focus or something like that, right? So that's the reason we dream is because um with in just 60 minutes of no um visual input, you're you'll start to lose that access to your brain and other parts will come over. So the reason we dream, because we see it, is like it's keeping that, it's protecting our brain to keep the visual processing centers alive. I'm like, wow, that's really fascinating. And then the podcast guy is like, so what do you make of our dreams? Like, do they mean anything? And he's just flat out, no. I'm like, what? Like, I'm overwhelmed. And last night I had a dream um of a girl I went to high school with who her and her whole family um died in a house fire and only the dog survived. And I saw the headline and I saw the I'm like, you can't tell, would I be having that dream if I wasn't so overwhelmed? The night before I had a dream that a friend of mine said, I don't tell you the truth. I tell you what you want to hear, not the truth.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Whoa.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

And so, like, I'm just thinking, you I just have a hard time believing, may I don't know if there's really been studies on this or what, but he was just so clear. He didn't back it up with any evidence. But, you know, do dreams have significance? And it was like, no. And I remember at a specific part of my life where I made a really big decision and I felt a huge relief for the first time in a really long time. I had like three nights of like the most amazing dreams. I'm like, it has to be tied to how we're feeling in some.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Well, I find his whole thing, like, I know exactly why people dream. Okay, well, okay, first of all, no, you don't, because you can't prove it. But second of all, uh, and no, they have no meaning. Like, you dude. What do you know? Like, and like you also you're scientists, so you can't prove any of that. So shut that all up. No, I agree. I I used to have dreams for like probably years. I tend to have recurring dreams, and I had dreams for years. I might have told you guys this, that I uh I had a kid or I had a baby, and I would like go away for the weekend and forget that I had a child. And then at a certain point I'd be like, oh, and like have to go home and you know, like once I left the baby in like the the the footwell of the passenger of a car for the weekend, or like I used to have this dream all the time. In fact, I had it so often that I was like, I'm actually a little bit worried about watching my friend's children because what if I what if I forget about them? Um, but as soon as I started my business, the dream stopped. Interesting. It was there was something in me that knew that there was something else I was supposed to be working on, but that I was just not making a priority, that there was there was a a new project to be born that I was not that I was ignoring, basically. And as soon as I focused on that, I haven't had that dream in well, what, 15 years now, but I used to have it all the time.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

Like do you have recurring dreams, Karina? Like a recurrent theme?

SPEAKER_01 15:33

Um, not very many. Like I think I've had it like one where I've like had it a couple of times, but not really very many. Most of mine are unique, and I will say this I I think anyone who dreams, because here's the other thing. So um I got a diagnosis in January of sleep apnea, and it's because I hadn't had any dreams for about two years. And I think it's because I wasn't sleeping because I was waking up so often. So, like, I don't think I'd had REM cycles for a couple of years. I thought I was just stressed out. Turns out I wasn't breathing at night. Um, and I feel very strongly that dreaming is a processing situation because often I will go to bed with a very important dilemma that I need to fix. And sometimes it's things I'm not even sure I was thinking, oh, that's something I need to fix, but it'll come to me and I will dream about it or be trying to work it out throughout the night. I get like I wake up thinking about it, trying, and in the morning, it's like I've settled into what the solution or multiple solutions need to be. This happens to me so often. There is no way that the dreaming and the way that our brains work, to me, it like it it's doing something very specific because I've gotten too many solutions. I mean, the whole idea of you need to go sleep on it, there's a reason for that. That's not just happening to me, that's happening to lots of people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Yeah, there's a term for it which it escapes me entirely, but it's your lets your brain work on the problem in the background. Uh, even just working on something and then walking away and coming back to it, you have a better chance of getting the solution to that. No, I totally agree because I well, like just the other day, I told Karina that I had a dream while I was up in Bear Lake. I'm down obviously in Salt Lake now, but I was up at Bear Lake for what, a couple of weeks um at Karina's house in Bear Lake. But I had a dream, you know that pink suit she has, Natalie?

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

I had a dream that I was, oh, maybe I meant this mention this over Marco Polo, but I had a dream that I was in, I had I was wearing Karina's pink suit and was like heading into the city and was gonna drive, but then I decided not to drive and then I was gonna walk, but I fell into a storm drain and like I was okay, but then I just and then I was like, I'll just never get to town this way, so I just went home. Um, and so I used Chat GPT for dream interpretation. I use Claude for work and chat GPT for dream interpretation. Uh and I'm like, I could probably figure this out on my own, but you know, why not? Let me give you something to do there, chat GPT. Although this that's probably the exact wrong one. We probably do not want to be giving open AI access to our dreams and subconscious. Like that's probably the exact wrong company to do that anyway. Um, but it was like you are trying to by trying by putting on, you know, and it asked me some questions about Karina. And I was like, well, you know, Karina's Karina's an amazing person, but she's also like the most effective business person I know. Like she's just always getting stuff done, and she's, you know, so on the ball. And and uh it was like, well, you know, you putting on her suit is you trying to operate the way that she does, and you not being able to do that, and kind of having to find your own way to to, and I was like, oh, because effectively that's kind of what being in Bear Lake, like sequestering myself up at the Bear Lake house for I thought it was gonna be the month of April, more on that in a moment, but um, it was me trying to be like, okay, I'm gonna be so ultra productive. I'm gonna get so much stuff done, it's gonna be incredible. And uh did I get stuff done? Yes, absolutely. And I'm glad I didn't again. Thank you for letting me stay at your second home. Uh also thank you for letting me stay at your third home.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

I mean, your first, well, you kind of I guess this is our third home.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Yeah. The barn, the cottage. Yes. Uh, and you know, letting me walk through your first home. Um, but I was was getting stir crazy, and you know, I think you were like, why don't you just come down here and stay down here? Because you're clearly losing your mind, kid.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

Well, the the thing about you being up there though, too, which is so fascinating because I think both of you guys just think I work around the clock, is that even I can't do more than I think at most I've done three days up there by myself and I do power through. Like I do a 16-hour day, I sleep, I work, I sleep, I work. And it's when I'm under duress, like right, I'm under a mega deadline for the university or whatever. Um, but I I don't think I could do more than five days of that before I need human interaction, I need a break, and which is which says a lot because I even think about we were taping this episode on Friday, and typically Josh and I go on a date at 3:30 or 4 p.m. on Fridays. Why? Because by that time I'm feeling very done with work and I just need a break. And so I think all human beings just need a break. And the one of the best ways to take a break is with another human being. Yeah, so Nick and I locked that in by watching six episodes of a show last night. Whoopsie.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Oh, sorry, Josh. I know that you were like, oh, my wife's home. Yeah, I get to spend some quality time. No, your wife is gonna spend some quality time with me. I'm like every husband and boyfriend's worst nightmare because I'm sorry, boys. I'm just a lot of fun and they're gonna want to hang out with me. Every husband and boyfriend is like, damn it, Nikki's coming to town. I can't compete. No, you can't. No, you can't.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Are you going on a date with Karina and Josh tonight, Nikki?

SPEAKER_00 21:17

They're going out on their own. I think probably it's for the best because Josh might break down into tears if I didn't let them go on their own. No, but we did go out last night for um for Felicity's birthday. Went out and got sushi and then got cake and and went to Barnes and Noble together. It's just me hanging out with the fam, you know. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Just like I actually I was funny to have Nikki with us because I was like, this is our birthdays. Like, we went to dinner, we went to nothing but cake and picked up cakes. We went to Barnes and Noble, and the kid just all went and bought books. And then we went home and blew out a candle. And then Nikki and I watched six episodes of something. Everybody just Felissa went out with a friend. Siri had To go back down to school, and Charlie was just so happy to have the phone because I had taken it with me to DC. So, and then Josh read a book. And then also we were laughing, Nikki and I were laughing because at some point it was probably like 10 p.m. We're still watching our show, and Josh showed up upstairs. He showed up in the barn. He was like, Hey guys. And I think neither of us realized. I was like, oh, come in, watch the show. I think that was him being like, Hey, come to bed, Karita.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

Like we I kind of ignored him and watched the show. I forget that human men have needs, and I'm like, oh, okay, great. Just come in and watch the show. That's you know, like, oh, did you not get to see your wife for a week? Oh, sorry. Sorry. Again, the worst nightmare of husbands and boyfriends everywhere. Same wa.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

Anyway, so we're going on a date tonight, and we were kind of texting on a couple of things. So he knows he gets a date tonight.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

But I got a clean parking lots involved. Canyons and parking lots?

SPEAKER_01 23:05

Not tonight, no. Um, anyway, that was fun to have Nikki at the uh at our birthday bash, our very mellow birthday bash. I don't know what other families do for birthdays, but ours is pretty nerdy, is what I'll say.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

It's adorable. Like first of all, dinner. I feel like that's what families do, dinner out. But then like cake and Barnes and Noble, I mean, that's delightful.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

I think it's like a perfect representation of your family, like the values and what's important. Like the family is the most important, you know. So going out together, spending that quality time together, going to Barnes and Noble, like your kids are obviously smart, they are curious. Like, that's just it's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

I mean, the excuse was we're going to Hawaii next week. Get a book for the beach. So, and what started as one book, I think Syria.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Oh, they all left with like three, like at least that was pretty fun.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

So, yeah, that was really good. Okay, going back to the dream thing, have you guys ever had a dream that you were like, Whoa, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Like all the time.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

Yeah, I don't think I remember anything specifically, but yeah, I think certainly mine, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

I mean, I could just pull up GPT and we can go through my history. No, really. On February 12th, 2025, my dream was this.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

I just think it's interesting. Well, but like, let's if you didn't have history on it, like I think it's interesting when you talk or think about the dreams you've had, which ones actually stick, like ones that we actually remember. Like, I was just thinking about I had a dream when I was younger that one of my no, I think this was early in my marriage to Josh. I had a dream where one of my legs was a tie like an inch shorter than the other one. So I was having trouble walking, like so I was kind of wobbling. And so when I look that up, it means that you feel like you're not on equal footing, clearly, right? And you feel like things are off balance in your life. And I do think I want to say I had this dream while I was working on my PhD, and I was But this is similar to the dream you just had with the ice things, too. Yeah, kind of interesting, right? That happened during my doctorate because I was working on my doctorate, Josh was working on his law degree, we had multiple callings at church, and we had one child at that time, and it just felt that was a time where I felt so overwhelmed. I mean, new, new, new mom, also doing a doctorate. I don't recommend that to anybody. No, it's sometimes a husband in law law school, which was incre it was just I I look back at that time and I think maybe that's why I feel like it's a not a big deal to run a university or start a university because that was so hard. Being a mom is really hard, like especially a new mom. And so, like, there's really nothing else that can kind of compare to that. So that plus the doctorate, I mean that that sent me over the edge. Oh, that was also we when we were going to court against my dad for abuse. So I think there was like just a lot of things going on. So, but interesting, the analogy is different, like my own foot being short versus me at like the land in my dream last year. It's out of your control, it's out of my control. Yeah, totally out of my control. Like I'm just scrambling to stay on land while everything is falling into the ocean. And I I felt like it was ironically, yes, did I feel stressed about it, but I also felt like I wasn't gonna die. Like I was just like, I'm just gonna go to the next piece, I'm just gonna go to the next piece, it's gonna be fine. I'm you know, well, when it's lines up.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

Oh, sorry, go ahead. No, it lines up perfectly with what you're saying with all the regulations that are out of your control.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

And it's like, of course, you're gonna get through it, but well, and when it's external, you can rely on yourself, but the landscape is, but when it's one of your legs is a little bit, you're maybe worried that you can't keep up, that you can't rely on yourself, or you can't yeah, rely on yourself, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

That's interesting though, don't you think? What about you guys? Have you had a dream that you like, oh, I remember this dream?

SPEAKER_00 27:32

I mean, I don't know if I have any odd dreams, but I do. I I mean I have recurring dreams. Like I have a dream regularly that I can't find my way back to my hotel, my hotel room. It's not my house, it's my hotel room. Um, sometimes I'm naked, often I'm not. Um, but it's also it's it's not I don't feel anxious in the dream. I just feel like, oh, why can't I feel like I don't feel I don't feel scared in dream? I haven't had a nightmare in probably 30 years. I don't feel scared in dreams. Sometimes I feel a little stressed out, sometimes I feel angry. Have I murdered in dreams? Yes. Um I have, I have. Uh and who did you murder? I know, right? No, not anyone real, but uh yeah, I definitely murdered in dreams. Um I dig into that one, Chat JPJ. Again, not information that I want to feed into the open AI system. Um but uh but yeah, the the because I just had that one again like last week or something where I I couldn't rem I just I was off some doing something and just couldn't find my way back to my hotel room. So I have that one.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Did you even have that though when you owned a house?

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Oh yeah. I've I mean I've had that one for a long time. I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

We can't say this is a new thing, like you know, where you don't actually have a home right now.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

No, it's it and because it's not about and it's also it's a hotel room, right? It's not my house, it's a hotel room. So there's some kind of it's a it's a temporary place. I don't know, Chat GPT had some thoughts about it. And I was like, maybe, I don't know. It didn't ring true the way sometimes it does. But um, but yeah, that one I have. I mean, I think I've had that ever since I've been an adult, effectively.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

I remember one of your dreams. Do you? It involves you in my head, it involves a tiny horse.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

All I all I remember, do you remember anything else about it? I just remember there's a very, very tiny horse. Like the like the ones that you see. My I love my mother to pieces, but she sends me these videos, and I'm like, you know that horses this size don't exist, right? It's like a 12-inch horse, and she's like, look, I'll give these types of horses on, look at this video. I'm like, those aren't real, those are not real horses. And I get it, it's very confusing because they look very real, but like these are 12-inch horses in my dream. It was like a 12, 16, 18-inch horse.

SPEAKER_02 29:48

I wish I could remember its name because you had a name, you named it. I did.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

It was almost like a dog, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 29:55

You were pets.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

But it was, I don't remember anything.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

What was the point of that tiny horse? That's what I want to remember.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

We were in Amsterdam when you had it. Yeah. Uh, I don't not all of my dreams have points. Some of them are some of them metaphors, and some of them are like, well, that is weird. What a nut. What is going on in this girl's brain? Tiny ponies. Um, yeah, I don't that's I don't have a hand.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

I feel like Natalie and I veer more on the um anxious side when it comes to our dreams. I don't have a lot of lovely dreams. Oh, that's too bad.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

I could count on one hand lovely dreams, specifically three. That that's it. Like I do like yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

I do think that's I think that's the case for PTSD and amuse and stuff. I do think that there's a lot with that because when I Josh has great dreams like almost every night. He talks about he loves he talks about how awesome they are, he like loves them, he always remembers them. And I for years I'd be like, I hate dreaming. I hate dreaming because I had so many nightmares. And so, um, and could I tell you what happens in these nightmares? No, but I just remember fear and anxious, and and so dreaming was not something I really loved, but I will say, over the last I would say eight or nine years, I have much fewer uh nightmares and far more just like that's that's weird.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

Yeah, I dream pretty much I feel like every night I can remember my dreams more often than not.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

So I don't, I I forget about mine right away, I think.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

And mine are so detailed, like to the littlest, tiniest thing. I don't know. Interesting. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Yeah, like can you think of a really weird one? Oh man. Or willing to share one. I know that you want to share.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Um I mean, I don't know about weird. They're all just kind of anxious or some of them are horrible, but like like I have two recurrent dreams, recurring dreams. One is I'm in my car and I'm driving and I'm approaching a stop light and it's turning red, and I can't stop the car. Oh, I have that one. I just keep going. And then the other recurring dream is I'm showing up for a marathon and I arrive and I'm late. Everybody has already gone. And so I'm trying to find the route and get on course, and I'm like lost trying to look for where the race course is.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Those are like recurring nightmare to show up for a marathon. That's a nightmare in itself.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

Yeah, but like in terms of like horrible things, last night was a little bit unique in that it was about another friend having died with her whole family and the dog surviving. Um, but usually it's somehow I'm very much involved in it. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

I'm sure a psychologist other than Natalie would have a field day with this episode.

SPEAKER_02 33:01

Feel free, free advice taken. We have fan mail turned on. We have fan mail turned on.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

Yeah, stop inundating us with all of your fan mail.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

This is to wrap it all up, this is part of the reason I am so overwhelmed. Our audience is just inundating us with the requests and the sponsorships and the collabs and the fan mail. Like, we just can't keep up, okay? It's so like too much, guys. It's too much.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

We know like when we get stopped on the streets, too.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

I mean, oh my gosh, the amount of time people stop and they're like, oh my gosh, are you from the Unfiltered Ish podcast? I'm like, yes. Like, will you sign this? I'm like, oh my hand is like so cramping from the amount of autographs I've been giving.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

So tired of taking selfies of people. Like, we love our fans. So overwhelmed if it wasn't for the popularity of this podcast. Such a great point. Oh my gosh, it makes so much sense. What do you have time to fit in work? Oh, the sarcasm is so real.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

I know. As I'm saying this, I'm like, I'm gonna go look up our stats.

SPEAKER_00 34:04

You've had two people listen. Like, I don't care. I don't care. We're doing good. We're doing good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Um, okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Oh, are you done? You guys were just done. This is we're done with this topic. Let's do another one. Have we made you feel any less uh overwhelmed?

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Oh, just talking with you guys always makes me feel better.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

Friends do help, but truly, like, go to bed early. Use that magnesium spray that Clarita. Yes, I will. Yes, I will. Clarita, want to be our first uh corporate sponsor? Just kidding. We'll just mention it anyway. Clarita's magnesium spray from Clarida. Really, really good. Clarity. Every time I use it, I sleep through the night. Actually, Karina, let me know tonight, spray you before you go to bed.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

She comes to my room with Josh and I in there. She's like, spray, spray, spray. You might as well go do all the kids. You might as well go do all the kids while you're at it. She likes stops in Felicity's room, she stops in Charlie's room. She stops at Thunder. My gardener family. She's like her own personal like tooth fairy or something. Magnesium fairy.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

All right. So just don't be surprised when I come into your bedroom tonight and start spraying you with stuff. You're welcome.