There are many interpretations of this dream, in which our transport from one reality to another always appears to be curtailed. One idea is that a personal objective is literally slipping away, that we are missing an opportunity to achieve a life goal, or that we are out of step and lagging behind other people in terms of our progress.
Lauri Loewenberg, a Florida-based author and dream analyst, tells Newsweek that repeated dreams tend to be caused by either ongoing situations or issues or recurring behavior patterns that we haven’t yet resolved.
Each time the issue or behavior arises anew, so does the dream that is connected to it.
“Vehicles in dreams tend to represent something in real life that allows us to move forward and progress in some area. Specifics matter in dreams, so the type of vehicle provides clues as to what the dream is about and why you are getting it,” she says.
“Planes take off, and rise higher and higher and take you places, so the dreams of missing a plane likely represent the pressure to accomplish something that will ’take off’ and help you rise in your career or reach a high goal before it is too late.”
Dreams about being late for other forms of transport can have slightly different meanings, Loewenberg says. Trains, for instance, often represent something in real life that will help you to advance forward.
“They are tethered to a track, so they can be a reminder from the subconscious to ‘stay on track’ and not lose your ’train of thought’,” she says, noting that wordplay often comes up in our dreams. Finding the wordplay or figure of speech in our dream takes us a good way toward finding part of its meaning.
Looking at the dream of a missed train in this context, creative people can interpret it as a kind of writer’s block: losing their train of thought or feeling they are no longer “on the right track,” Loewenberg adds.
Because we often use them more often, buses, and dreams of missing them, are often more reflective of our day to day lives.
Why we dream what we dream
Recurring dreams of any kind are often the product of similar circumstances, even if the details are slightly different each time. One obvious stress, Loewenberg says, is time pressures in real life.
“Being up against a work deadline, or even a self imposed deadline, are the biggest culprits of these dreams,” she says. “These dreams bring to life the sense of time and/or opportunity passing you by. If you could illustrate what that felt like, it would certainly look like the gate closing as the plane is leaving.”
And although these types of pressures are nearly universal, they are, unsurprisingly, more likely to affect people who experience more time pressures in their day-to-day lives. The missed plane or train is an especially common recurring dream for people who face constant deadlines, such as journalists or contractors, Loewenberg says.
The more frequent these dreams are, the more looming deadlines the dreamer is likely to have in real life.
The recurring dream of missing our ride, literally, may be frustrating, but they can be beneficial as well, Loewenberg says.
“They are keeping you on your toes to make sure you reach that deadline and are a not so gentle nudge to improve your time management skills,” she adds.
