I've had a semi-reoccurring dream for the past few years. The settings and characters vary, but there's always a confrontation between some random jerk and me. Eventually, one thing leads to another and I go to beat this guy up. I start punching him, either in the gut, the chest, or the face, but nothing happens. He doesn't fight back, and doesn't even seem hurt at all. No one says a word while I'm wailing on this guy ineffectually. Eventually, I stop, and I'm filled with this sense of shame - I tried my best to beat the shit out of him, and he didn't even feel it. Here, I either wake up, or walk away in silence. No one laughs, despite how comical this situation would be in real life. It's like they're not even there, just foils to my subconscious.

When I do have dreams, none of them are terribly pleasant. They're either explorations of my insecurities, brief windows to whatever my brain thinks it wants at the moment (leaving me inevitably disappointed when I wake up), or just flat-out nightmares. Apparently, I had night terrors as a kid, so I guess I've always been like this.

Then again, I rarely do remember my dreams. I could be delving into pseudopsychology here, but I wouldn't be surprised if "not remembering my dreams" was just a mechanism used by my subconscious to protect me (as a child) from the night terrors. If this were the case, it wouldn't be too strange for this "barrier" to have stayed around to this day, blocking out dreams...