Thread: My gf and I just broke up. Since then, I've been having dreams everynight about two of my exes. Why?

First off, a few days ago my gf and I broke up. Since then, I’ve been having dreams everynight not just about her, but about another ex of mine (for the purposes of this post, I’ll cal them ex-gf1 and ex-gf2). It wasn’t rare before to have them appear in my dreams, but every night?? What does that mean? Why are they appearing so frequently?? Full disclosure: I’ve only had two serious relationships in my life, and I admit to being more than a little depressed right now, as well as contemplating suicide (not sure if that’s relevant or not, but wanted to have full disclosure).

Okay, so I had BOTH these dreams last night. Please note that I’m American and my first language is English. But I’m also multi-lingual and occasionally have dreams in other languages (I’d rather not disclose what languages, but I’ll say L2 and L3 in this post if it’s not English).

1) I’m in a shopping mall with a close friend of mine (whom speaks little English, I speak to him in L2). I tell him I want to go to the bookstore. Apparently, I have a feeling that I’ll see someone there. When we get there, I see ex-gf1 working behind the register. I can’t speak and I get a terrified feeling in my stomach. She hasn’t seen me yet, but I don’t know if I want her to see me. I don’t know if I want to talk to her, or if I want to run far away and never return. She’s talking to a co-worker (she speaks no English whatsoever, and only speaks L2) and when she glances my way, I dash toward the back of the store before she can see me. I don’t know whether she saw me or not. I stand in the back of the store, trembling and wondering what to do. When my friend finds me, I ask him to help me look for a book on a specific problem I’m having. For the life of me, I can’t remember what I ask him to help me find, but he tells me it’s in the self-help aisle. We go to the front of the store, where the cash register is as well as the self-help section. I hide in the aisles and glance at ex-gf1 between the shelves but she’s helping customers. The self-help section is almost bare, with only 3 or 4 books in its inventory. We leave the store and as soon as we’re out, I begin bawling like a little baby. My friend tries to console me, then suggests we go into a Foot Locker store to look at shoes. As we enter, I see models sitting down by the shoe walls wearing yellow jerseys with the British flag and the Brazilian flag and they’re wearing matching shoes. I wonder what to do as I look at these shoe models, and then I wake up.

2) I go back to sleep a few minutes later and have a second dream. When I was young my city used to have this huge 4-story mall in the heart of downtown. My family and I used to go on weekends and spend days there. It’s since been torn down and replaced with a public park for concerts, but I still remember it fondly. Anyway, in my dream it still exists, and ex-gf2 is visiting the US for the first time (she speaks excellent English and I only speak English to her). I decide to take her to this mall for lunch. When we enter we see a place selling fried chicken. She orders a plate of two and tells me she’ll find a place to eat. I decide to order a meal with potatoes and hush puppies with my chicken and as I’m waiting my dad appears. I ask him (in L3) if he wants anything and he orders a hoagie. It takes FOREVER to get our food. When we get our food, we look for ex-gf2 through the food court, and walk around through some seating areas. We can’t find her, but we keep looking. I finally realize we’re on the 3rd floor! I decide to call her but since her phone isn’t American, I have to use FooCall (an iPhone app that allows for cheap international calls). She picks up and I ask her where she’s at. She says she’s in front of a store called “Settlers” but I don’t recognize it. She mentions a few other stores but again, I’ve never heard of them. She finally mentions she’s on the 2nd floor and she’s finished eating. My dad and I think she’s in another part of the mall and I ask a passerby how to get there. He tells us we can go outside (3rd floor of the mall is actually ground level) and catch a bus around the mall to where ex-gf2 is. We go outside (still carrying our lunches) and catch a bus. We go in the wrong direction (east instead of west) and go farther away from the mall. We get off at the first stop and we’re near a park and need to get back to the mall. My dad walks across the street and in the direction of the park and I have to yell at him to come back. I scream at him for a few minutes before he finally turns around and starts walking back. I wake up.

ANY interpretations, opinions, and insights would be helpful. Most importantly though, thoughts on why I’m dreaming of my exes after this breakup is really the mystery I'd like solved.

TLDR; Broke up with GF. Now I can't stop dreaming about her and another ex. Last night, I went to a bookstore and saw ex-gf1 and didn't know what to do to the point that I started crying. Then I went to the mall with ex-gf2, ordered lunch, then my dad and I spent the rest of my dream searching for her through the mall but couldn't find her. Please help.