Here’s What It Means If Someone Else Dreams About You

Have you ever dreamt that you got into a fight with a friend who you’re otherwise getting along great with? Or had a sex dream about someone who you don’t even find attractive in real life? If so, then you’ve probably wondered what it means when you dream about someone. While the meanings could be obvious, there’s usually more symbolism at play than we think — so dreaming about someone else can offer us lots of insight into our own subconscious.

While dreams about other people are interesting, it’s even more intriguing to consider what it means when someone dreams about you — because that can tell us a lot about the dreamer and what you represent to them. In dreams, most things (and people) are symbols for certain feelings, relationships, or situations from waking life. That said, appearing in someone’s dream could say less about you and more about the feelings or qualities that the dreamer associates with you. The same thing applies when analyzing what it means when you dream about someone else.

“Each dream someone has of you has many layers and can mean many different things, but one thing it can mean that this person is processing what they subconsciously feel about you and your relationship to each other,” mystical practitioner MaKayla McRae tells Bustle. “It can also represent the characteristics and qualities that a person identifies with you on, which helps in communicating with those parts of themselves.”

Next time someone tells you that you appeared in their dreamworld, get the details and do some dream interpretation work together. Read on to explore the different possibilities about what it means if you dream about someone, as well as what it means when someone dreams about you.

Dreaming Of Someone In A Negative Light

It’s always awkward to find that we showed up in someone’s dream in a negative way, or to dream of someone we know doing something cruel or acting badly. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the dream-bully has a secret evil streak IRL. “Showing up in someone’s dream can [indicate] that this person is subconsciously trying to process their feelings toward you, so if someone dreams that you’re mean to them, it doesn’t usually mean that this person literally finds you rude,” McRae says. “They may actually be processing a fear of their own — perhaps a fear of your rejection.”

It’s important to look at the context of the dream and the relationship that the dreamer has with the person they’re dreaming about. “For example, if someone has a crush on you they may have a dream where they see you kissing someone else and laughing in their face,” McRae says. “This is because their hidden fear may [involve] you not returning their interest or being into someone else.”

Dreaming Of Someone In A Positive Light

It’s always nice to have someone show up in our dreams in a positive way — and it’s sweet to hear when someone else has a good dream about us, too. Having a good dream about someone could simply be a reflection of our affectionate and positive feelings toward them. It could also indicate that the dreamer is processing something about their relationship with the person in their dream and coming to an optimistic conclusion about things.

“When someone has a positive dream of you, it can represent where they see you ideally — which may literally mean that they have overall happy emotions tied to you in your relationship to one another,” McRae says. “It can also represent that this person sees a lot of qualities about you that they can relate to.”

Being Upset Or Fighting With Someone In A Dream

Dreams about fighting with someone can be stressful — and hearing that someone dreamed they were upset with you doesn’t feel good, either. “When someone dreams that they’re fighting with you, it sometimes can represent real-life conflicts in your relationship,” McRae says. “Oftentimes though, this frustration is usually between the dreamer and themself, with [the person they’re fighting with] only representing a part of their psyche.”

Often, disagreements in dreams are more about inner-turmoil on the part of the dreamer as opposed to real-life negative feelings toward the person they’re upset with in a dream — so it’s important to analyze the personal symbolism involved with that particular relationship. “For example, if someone sees you as a courageous person, then starts arguing with you in a dream, this [may show that] this person wants to be as adventurous as they perceive you to be,” McRae says. “They are subconsciously arguing with themselves to be as brave hearted as you.”

Having A Sexy Dream About Someone

The meaning of sex dreams can vary wildly, so there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to interpreting them. Dreaming about hooking up with someone could be an obvious manifestation of our affectionate feelings or attraction to them, but it could also be more symbolic. Sex is about connection, intimacy, and energetic exchange, so having a sex dream about someone could mean that you’re trying to integrate some of the qualities that person represents into your own life.

The same is true of someone having a sex dream about you. “This dream could just represent one’s fantasies of wanting a friendship, relationship, or some sort of association with you receiving them warmly,” McRae says. While it certainly may indicate a crush or hidden desire to consummate your relationship, it could also mean they simply hope to meaningfully connect with you in a non-sexual way or more fully align with the qualities that you represent to them.