Meeting somebody you strongly dislike in a dream can be an unpleasant and disconcerting experience that leaves you feeling uneasy, even after you awake – and such a dream can have several different meanings.
Understanding why you had this kind of dream is not always easy, so for anybody who has recently had a dream like this and is wondering why, in this post, we talk about dreaming about someone you hate – and how to interpret the dream’s message.
Dream about Someone You Hate – Interpreting dreams
Before we talk about dreaming about someone you hate, let’s start by saying a few words about how to interpret dreams in general.
Dreams are incredibly subject and personal things, and interpreting them depends very much on the individual dreamer.
Science doesn’t know exactly what dreams are or why we have them, but many people believe they are messages from our subconscious minds – and some even believe they can bring messages from spirits or angels too.
In any case, the message a dream carries depends on how the dreamer views the symbolism of the dream as well as what is going on in the dreamer’s life at the time.
For example, a dream about a dog would have a vastly different meaning for someone who was a dog lover and someone who is afraid of dogs – so to interpret a dream correctly, you need to consider how you feel about what you saw or what happened.
At the same time, you need to think about your current life situation. What difficulties are you facing? What answers are you seeking that the message of the dream could be seeking to provide?
To correctly interpret the dream, you need to take all of these things together. Then, through meditation, deep reflection and inner searching – and by allowing your intuition to guide you – you will be able to discover the true meaning of your dream.
The symbolism of a person you hate
Having understood that dreams are subjective, we now need to think a bit about what associations we might have with someone we hate.
At first glance, our feelings towards someone we hate might be unambiguously negative, but it can be more nuanced than that.
If you hate someone, your feelings could primarily be ones of dislike, the sensation that you simply can’t stand the sight or thought of them. But your feelings could also be ones of anger.
Alternatively, you could feel fear when you think of that person – and as a result, there may be feelings of resentment mixed in there too because they make you feel weak.
Another possibility is that a person you hate may make you feel insecure – you hate them because they hate you, but you don’t really understand why.
Perhaps you feel feelings of regret because you don’t get along with this person – or maybe it was someone you used to be on good terms with, so you regret the breakdown of the relationship.
Some or all of these feelings may be present when you dream about someone you hate, either directly related to the person in the dream or related to somebody or something else symbolically.
This means to interpret a dream about someone you hate, you will need to unravel the associations you have with this person and your feelings towards them to find out what the dream really meant.
Interpreting dreams about someone you hate
Now we understand more about dreaming about someone we hate, let’s move on to looking at some possible interpretations of the dream you experienced.
1. Your strong feelings towards the person in the dream
The simplest explanation for the dream you had is that it represents your extremely strong feelings of dislike for this person pushing their way up through your subconscious.
In your waking life, it could be that you suppress any thoughts about this person because they make you feel angry – or perhaps you don’t suppress these thoughts, and you find yourself walking around in seething anger as you give them too much time in your thoughts.
Either of these scenarios is unhealthy, and in this case, your subconscious could be acting as a pressure valve, allowing these emotions to be released in a safer way.
In a way, this is a good sign because it means that your mind is working its way through this strong negativity, and after one or more dreams like this, your anger or hatred will dissipate, leaving you feeling mentally more at peace.
2. Processing your feelings towards this person
Another similar possibility is that there is someone in your life you have these kinds of strong negative feelings about, but you aren’t really sure why.
This means your mind may be taking the time to work through these emotions to help you understand where these feelings come from.
If this happens, it’s important to take time after the dream to reflect on what happened in the dream and how you felt at the time. This way, you may be able to uncover the reasons for all the negativity and hatred that were buried too deep down for you to find.
3. Trying to understand why they don’t like you
As well as being about trying to find the source of your negative feelings for a person, this kind of dream could be a manifestation of your subconscious mind searching for reasons why this person doesn’t like you.
Nobody enjoys being disliked, and the knowledge that someone has negative feelings towards you can be upsetting.
However, your subconscious mind may help you understand the reasons for those negative feelings – or at least allow you to accept them and rise above them.
This is important because if you let that negativity go to your heart, it will make you a more negative and unhappy person too.
4. Preparing to encounter that person
If the person you hate is someone you can’t avoid, you will eventually end up seeing them and perhaps having to speak to them – and this is something you may well not be looking forward to or may even dread.
When you inevitably find yourself in this situation, you will probably feel a range of strong emotions such as dislike, anger, disgust or others, which will make the whole experience extremely unpleasant.
However, by playing through the scenario in your dream, your subconscious may be preparing you mentally for the encounter so that when it happens in real life, it will be much easier for you to handle.
5. Regret about the loss of a relationship
It’s possible that the person in your dream was someone who was once your friend, and seeing them in your dream may represent your regret for the loss of the relationship you once had – or even a desire to patch things up.
At the same time, the person in your dream could represent someone else, telling you that there is another person in your life that you regret falling out with.
As ever, through meditation and deep thought, you will be able to discover your true feelings and the meaning of this dream – and then perhaps you will realize that you need to take the first steps to resolve the situation.
6. Processing other traumatic experiences, relationships or emotions
Falling out with someone can be traumatic, and the emotions involved may not always be processed easily or fully. As a result, our subconscious may have work to do, and the result can be dreams of meeting someone we hate.
The person in the dream may or may not be the person we fell out with, but coming face to face with someone we have such strong negative feelings about in a dream may be our subconscious mind’s way of working through our emotions.
Another possibility is that the dream is not about a relationship at all but rather about a traumatic experience.
In this case, the person we meet in the dream may represent something traumatic we experienced along with the associated emotions – which may be something we are unwilling to face.
If you believe your dream could be about something like this, you should take time to examine your thoughts and your feelings to see if there is anything you are hiding from.
Very often, simply understanding that there are feelings or thoughts that we are suppressing and choosing to face up to them more openly can be the first steps to healing. So if your dreams are sending you messages like this, you should never ignore them.
7. You feel insecure
In your dream, the person you hate could represent your insecurities, and this is another area to explore.
Are there areas of your life where you feel unsure of yourself?
Perhaps you don’t think you are qualified for your position at work? Perhaps you feel you have responsibilities that are too big for you to deal with? Or perhaps you have insecurities about your weight or the shape of your body?
It’s easy to understand how somebody you hate could represent any of these things in the dream world, so you should try to explore your insecurities and seek help from friends and family – or even a professional – to help you confront them.
8. You are afraid of something
Similarly, someone you hate could represent something you are afraid of, especially if the person in the dream manifests as more of a lurking presence in the background of your awareness.
What are you afraid of in your life? Is it something lurking in the background that you don’t want to face? Admitting fears and facing them is often the best way to deal with them, and this dream could be your mind’s way of telling you to do so.
9. You are facing a conflict or a difficulty
Another possibility along the same lines is that the person in your dream represents a conflict or a difficulty you are unwilling to face – and again, becoming aware of it and facing it more directly could be the best solution.
10. Need to be open to a lesson or advice you don’t want to hear
It’s normal to avoid people we hate, and for this reason, the person in your dream could represent a lesson, a piece of advice or a hard truth you don’t want to hear.
If you search inside yourself and find this to be true, then being open and honest with yourself – and opening yourself to the truth you were hiding from – can be the best way to go.
Situations that may affect the interpretation
The specific situation in the dream and what you experienced can also significantly affect the interpretation of the dream. Here are a few common examples:
11. Arguing or physically fighting with someone you hate
If you argue or physically fight with someone you hate in your dream, it may represent your desire to resist or fight back against a situation you are unhappy with or are unwilling to accept.
12. Being bossed about by someone you hate
Being bossed about by someone you hate may tell you that you are cowed, submissive and passively accepting things you’re not happy about. This dream could be a message to encourage you to be braver and to stand up for yourself.
13. Making up with someone you hate
This dream could represent a desire to patch things up with your enemy, or it could represent your desire to fix a thorny issue in your life.
14. A romantic dream about someone you hate
A strange dream but an important one. This dream can help open your eyes, allowing you to see things in a different light. This may be related to the person you hate, or it could be a metaphor for a particular situation in your life.
Search within yourself and trust your intuition
A dream about someone you hate can be tricky to decipher since there are many possible nuances, and finding the right answer can depend on many things, including your relationship with the person, what happened in the dream, your feelings and your current life situation.
When trying to interpret this dream, reflect deeply on all the elements in your dream as well as the answers you are seeking and the difficulties you are currently facing. Then, by trusting your intuition, you will be able to discover the meaning of your dream.