why do I become other people when I dream?

[spacepeanut]

For a few years now, whenever I go to sleep, I have these vivid dreams where I am always someone else. I have had dreams where I am a father of two, a daughter, a single mother, etc... When I become these people, I remember things as if I was them the whole time. Like my daughter's christening, my son's 2nd birthday at a pool, my wedding night. I am a single female with no kids in my early 20's. Now in these dreams, I always die painful deaths. I've learned to accept these dreams but I always feel what the person is going through in my dreams. I feel the fear and pain that they experience before they meet their demise. When one person dies, I don't wake up instantly. I then become someone else entirely in a different place and become them until they die as well. Dreaming like this kind of pushed me into becoming a re-occuring insomniac. I can go a few days without sleeping and still function as a normal person in everyday life. I guess my main question is if there are other people who dream like I do and if this is actually a 'normal' thing. I hope I'm not coming off as crazy. If this is a 'normal' thing, how do other people deal with the pain? In a recent dream, I tried to save two of my children and was shot twice. One made me fall and the other made me bleed to death. I've never been shot in real life but the pain was unbearable during the dream. So far, I've coped with these dreams by starting my day off with music that relaxes me and doing some yoga-like stretches...

[Carabas]

Dreaming as other people is pretty normal, yeah, and so is dying in your dreams occasionally. But if it's become a problem, then have you looked over the forum's sections on dream control or lucidity techniques? They're your dreams, you shouldn't have to put up with death scenes if they're giving you insomnia.

[spacepeanut]

Dreaming as other people is pretty normal, yeah, and so is dying in your dreams occasionally. But if it's become a problem, then have you looked over the forum's sections on dream control or lucidity techniques? They're your dreams, you shouldn't have to put up with death scenes if they're giving you insomnia. I've had other dreams that I can control but only when I am myself in the dream. When I am someone else, I react to things the way they would have. For example: When I was a family man with two kids, my house was on fire. The fire was blocking the front door and the first few windows that I tried would not open. I had taken my family to a back room. I was able to open the window. My wife went out first and then one of my kids. My other son was too scared to move. He curled up into a ball underneath the window and was crying... His choice was to try numerous windows... Personally, I would have grabbed the lamp that was on a nearby desk and smashed the glass. In the dream, I could not push my decision on him. I could not change the situation at all...