12 spiritual meanings of being trapped and trying to escape in a dream

Dreams can be frightening and confusing.

Most of the time they’re quite random and unremarkable. But there are also times when you get uncanny dreams where you feel helpless, like when you dream of being trapped.

The thing with dreams is that they often reflect our struggles and experiences in our waking lives. That you’re having dreams like these mean that the universe is trying to tell you something, and you have to go inward to look for answers.

To help you understand your dreams, here are 12 spiritual meanings of being trapped in your dreams.

What it means to your career

People and places related to your career show up in your dreams.

You might dream that your boss is chasing you, or you’re trapped in a never-ending job interview with them. Or perhaps you might dream that you’re stuck in your cubicle in an office and no one can hear your screams.

What do these dreams mean in relation to your career?

1) You feel like you’ve stagnated at work.

One reason why you might be dreaming about being stuck at work is that you feel like you’re stuck where you are.

You want to pull ahead, so you work hard in hopes of achieving success. But somehow, it feels like you’ve hit the ceiling and there are no promotions in sight. It’s also ages since you received a bonus.

Take a moment to think it over, even if you don’t feel like this is the case, and to think about the possible reasons why.

Do you have a colleague who has it out for you and is trying to keep you from advancing? Are you pouring your energy into all the wrong things? What is it that everyone else is doing differently?

Should you quit?

2) You find your work a little pointless.

Another possibility is that you simply have gotten to the point where you have begun to feel like your work’s a bit pointless.

Sure, you’re jumping up your career ladder, getting promoted and praised for your hard work. But for what reason are you working so hard for? You simply don’t believe there’s a point to all the work you’re doing even if you’re getting paid $100/ hr.

There can be several reasons why this might be the case. It could be that you’ve gone down the wrong career path or that you’re facing a mid-life crisis.

Maybe it’s time for you to really set some time to talk to a career counselor or to just have some self-reflection of what kind of life you really want.

3) You’re more important than you thought.

A somewhat more positive interpretation of dreaming about being trapped at work or being stuck trying to escape it is that your role at work is more important than you thought it was.

In this case, you’re aware on some level that you just can’t leave because you know everything is going to fall apart without you there. Your boss trying to chase you down the hallway might be because you know they’re desperate to make your stay.

It might seem egoistic, but it might really be the case, and this makes you feel like you have the weight of the company on your shoulders.

You see, being a valuable part of the team is a compliment that should be taken seriously. Your colleagues know a good thing when they see it!

Even if it isn’t in the work setting, these spiritual meanings of being trapped and trying to escape in a dream can help you understand the hidden messages of your subconscious.

Never forget, you are important! The decisions you make carry the power to positively change your life.

What it means to your love life

Dreams about love and romance aren’t always full of roses.

Sometimes you might dream of being chased around by your partner, being cuffed to them, or even living in a city where everyone from the janitor to the president is your partner who won’t let you go.

4) Your partner is overbearing.

We like to shut out our feelings and set them aside in the waking world, but they come to us full force when we fall asleep. And if your partner is overbearing or controlling, then it’ll show in your dreams.

You might not even know it consciously, especially if you’ve only ever known being under the control of other people. But the heart yearns to be free and unburdened, and that resentment will make itself known in your dreams.

5) You want to get out, but you can’t.

One reason you might be dreaming about being trapped is that you simply want to get out of the relationship. But for one reason or another, you can’t.

Maybe you’ve noticed that your partner has been abusive. Maybe they’ve been breaking the dishes when they get mad at you, or they decided to destroy your phone in a fit of jealousy.

But you just can’t leave. Maybe they had cut you off from your friends or maybe had you felt so bad about them that despite it all you just can’t bring yourself to call for a breakup.

6) Your partner means the world to you.

You can’t imagine a life without your partner. They mean the world to you, and you see bits and pieces of them everywhere you go.

But at the same time, your dedication towards them might have also stifled your own sense of self. And as admirable as your love for your partner may be, it’s no good — for either you or your partner — for you to lose yourself.

Your partner might eventually find it exhausting to be with you if they alone are the one thing that matters in your life. They might feel like they have to be especially careful with what they say, for example, or they might stop being interesting.

What it means to your other relationships

We usually like to think of our families and friends as a place of comfort. Yet it’s not unheard of to dream about being trapped with them. Some of us even dream of escaping them entirely because we’re totally different people now.

These dreams are especially worth paying attention to because you might be “okay” with them in your waking life but your subconscious knows you aren’t.

7) You’re frustrated with your family or friends.

A somewhat benign reason why you might dream of trying to run away from them is that you’re frustrated with them.

You might or might not be aware of exactly what these frustrations are. But even when you’re aware of them, you might not feel comfortable about confronting them with it—after all, how could you complain, when they’ve always been there at your side?

But it’s not quite always that straightforward.

Maybe they’ve been providing for your physical needs, but have been neglecting your emotional needs. Or they say you’re best friends but maybe they’ve got you feeling like you simply aren’t heard.

You will have to confront them about it at some point in order to have a fresh start, or it could lead to you accepting the fact that you’ve outgrown each other.

8) You’ve been neglecting your obligations to your loved ones.

Guilt might be another reason why you’re dreaming about being trapped with your family or friends, or even being chased by them in your dreams.

In this case, the family you’ve been seeing in your dreams is a manifestation of your own feelings. Maybe they’ve raised you well and have always been by your side, but you’ve done nothing to return the favor.

Try to give it some thought. Have you been neglecting your family or friends, or asked for a lot and yet gave back very little?

While the argument could be made that nobody is entitled to another person’s gratitude, it nonetheless is the mark of a good person to be grateful.

9) You feel like you need to find your people.

Sometimes families are failures, and friends are too. Instead of offering safety and sanctuary, they instead offer a hostile environment for you to live in.

Perhaps you feel like you’re being judged for every small mistake—that you must have straight A’s otherwise you’ll get grounded. Or maybe you’re gay or disagree with their beliefs and you know you simply can’t open up to them about it.

In this case, your dreams about running away reflect your own deep desire to run and find sanctuary. That you can’t find a way out in your dreams reflects the fact that, for the moment, you simply don’t know where you can go.

For now, you’ll just have to bide your time. But at some point, you gotta find your own people.

What it means to you as a person

Sometimes you feel trapped in your dreams, but the thing you can’t escape isn’t your boss, or your partner, but yourself.

Maybe you would dream about being stuck in a room full of mirrors or being in a world where everyone wears your face. Maybe it even feels like your body is a prison that you want to break free of.

10) You are unhappy with your body.

The most obvious reason why you might dream of being trapped in your body is that you are. You might even find yourself fantasizing that you’re healthier, sexier, or stronger.

There are many reasons why you might feel this way, and it’s a good idea for you to set aside the time to think things over.

How do you truly feel about your body and yourself?

What changes do you want and why?

If you’ve been feeling this way for a while now, it’s possible that you have body image issues caused by constant exposure to social media, and maybe you have to cut down your consumption by a lot.

11) You aren’t being honest with yourself.

Another reason why you might dream that you’re trying to escape from yourself is that you aren’t being honest with yourself.

It could be that you aren’t being honest to yourself about what you truly want in love and relationships, or from your career.

Maybe you’ve spent ages trying to convince yourself that you want the course your life is heading, but deep inside you don’t and that little part of you is trying to fight back. It wants to make you change course or break free of you entirely.

Maybe you’re telling yourself you’re happy when you know you’re not. Suppressed emotions come out in dreams and this is probably why you dream about being trapped.

12) You’re lost in yourself.

Sometimes you can be so focused on yourself that it’s almost like you’re the only person who exists in your world. Your friends, family, and even your partner might become mere props in your life story.

Your dream about being trapped with yourself might be the universe trying to smack you in the face with this reality you’ve made and hopefully smack you out of it.

After all, should you reach that point, then one could argue that dreams are just a more literal presentation of how you see the world. And it’s every bit as horrifying in reality as it seems in your dreams.

Maybe it’s time to get out of your own head and reach out to others.

Conclusion

Dreams deserve to be given careful interpretation, especially when there’s a pattern.

They can give insight as to what’s holding you back in your life, or what’s making you secretly unhappy.

Those dreams where you’re drowned with the sense of being helpless or are trying to run away from something are especially noteworthy.

They usually mean that there’s something that needs fixing in your life…and if you DO fix them, you’ll finally be in a much better place.