What It Means to Dream About Being Chased
Being chased is one of the most common dreams of all. We read your state of mind from who — or what — is chasing you.
The Basic Meaning
Dreams of being chased are among the most common dreams in all of dream interpretation. Their basic meaning is a reflection of a state of mind: there is something you want to face, but haven't quite been able to face yet. Work with a deadline, feelings you can't bring yourself to say, tasks you keep putting off — these are thought to appear in the form of something chasing you. It is a frightening dream, but it is not a prediction that something bad will happen. In fact, people often have this dream when the heart's readiness — "I think I'm almost ready to face it" — has come together. What is chasing you reveals what your present self feels pressure from.
What It Means in Different Situations
Being Chased by a Person
This represents pressure in your relationships. If you could see the person's face, there may be something unsaid within your relationship with them.
Being Chased by a Stranger
This represents an anxiety whose shape you don't know. It tends to appear in seasons when worries about the future, or vague concerns, grow large in your heart.
Being Chased by the Police
This points to an awareness of rules and evaluation, or a guilty conscience. People who take things earnestly dream this more often — it expresses a sense of responsibility: "I have to do this properly."
Being Chased by an Animal
This reflects instinctive emotions, or feelings you are suppressing. Emotions like anger or loneliness, which you pretend not to notice even yourself, may be growing.
Being Chased by a Ghost or a Phantom
This is the shape of past events, or worries that should be over, coming after you. It may be a sign that a season for sorting your heart has arrived.
Being Chased by Zombies
This can represent a burden with no end in sight, or tiredness with the repetition of daily life. It is a dream that tells you of the need for rest.
Escaping Successfully
A sign that your power to overcome problems and tasks is growing. In real life, too, it can be read as your readiness to face things coming together.
Hiding and Letting It Pass
This expresses the wisdom of getting through things with ingenuity, rather than colliding head-on. Right now, not forcing a fight, but letting it pass, may be the correct answer for this season.
Getting Caught
A frightening scene, but in dream interpretation this is read as a turning-point sign: the season to finally face it has come. Rather than continuing to run, it is a season to start moving toward a resolution.
Facing What Is Chasing You
This expresses a resolve to confront a problem or a feeling head-on. In real life, too, the stagnation may begin to dissolve.
Your State of Mind When You Have This Dream
You are likely to have this dream when things you must do are piling up, or when somewhere in your heart you feel, "I have to hurry." People also dream it when tiredness has built up. If you have the same dream repeatedly, it may be a season when rest for heart and body is especially needed.
How It Differs from Similar Dreams
A dream of being late is anxiety over time and opportunity; a dream of being chased is pressure over things you haven't faced. Both are dreams of urgency, but because the chasing dream has a clear target, it gives you a clue for thinking about the true shape of your current worry.
The Flow of Your Luck, and Some Advice
Your luck is at the boundary between stagnation and starting to move. Try finishing just one thing you have been putting off, in a small way. That alone will lighten your feelings surprisingly. Resting your body is also important — when your energy returns, what is chasing you tends to look smaller than you thought.
See other dreams
Dreams of Snake / Dreams of An Ex-Partner / Dreams of Losing a Tooth / Dreams of Someone Who Has Passed Away
