What Do Dreams About Fighting Mean?

Ever had a dream about fighting that just didn’t make any sense? Well, you wouldn’t be alone.

Dreams about fighting may scare and confuse you, but they are actually quite common. Our subconscious mind has a way of expressing thoughts and feelings that we couldn’t express when we were awake.

In this article, we will explore the potential causes of these dreams, and different ways they may be interpreted.

Dreams About Fighting a Person

Fighting someone and winning

Having a dream of winning a fight is indicative that you have a positive outlook on the current state of your life. A dream of beating someone in a fight suggests that you have confidence in your ability to overcome obstacles in your real life. Maybe you have a big test coming up, or you just had that clear-the-air chat with your ex. Fighting someone and winning in a dream would be a channel to release all of that built-up stress energy, and give you a greater sense of inner peace.

However, dreaming of winning a fight may also suggest you feel frustrated. The person you are fighting may represent elements of your life that you feel are stopping you from flourishing. Your opponent may also represent someone that you know in the physical world, that you may have recently had a negative encounter with. Fighting them in your dream could be a way for you to reclaim power over them.

Being attacked and fighting back

A reason you may have a dream about fighting back after being attacked is that something has come up recently which has made you feel vulnerable. This feeling of vulnerability may also be something embedded in you from when you were young, and it may be a source of great pain for you. Hence, a dream of fighting back could be a representation of your desire to stick up for yourself in uncomfortable situations in your real life.

This dream may also be a way for you to process trauma. Have you ever been attacked? Has someone ever made you feel vulnerable, or in danger? This dream may be your brain telling you that you have got some healing to do. Consider speaking to a professional to help you accept, tackle, and overcome this internal battle.

Fighting a woman

A dream of fighting a woman may indicate anger or frustration towards a specific woman in the real world. This type of dream would make sense if you had a disagreement recently with a woman.

It may also be your subconscious recollecting a fight you had in the past with a woman. This may suggest a feeling of guilt about the fight. You may also be experiencing ongoing trauma from the fight.

Dreaming of fighting a woman may also be a manifestation of your desire to assert yourself over or resolve a conflict with a woman in your life.

portrait of athlete fighting

Someone fighting

Sometimes, you may have a dream of watching other people fight. This may mean that people have fought in front of you in the past, while you just watched on, and this dream is a manifestation of your guilt for not intervening. Your conscience is telling you that you need to be a better person.

The fight could be a metaphor for a difficult decision you need to make between two options in the real world. It may represent you picking between two friends who had a disagreement, or your parents.

Watching other people fight is a stressful situation. Dreaming of this situation may suggest your anxiety in the real world has carried over into your subconscious.

Fighting with family

Fighting with family members in a dream indicates that there may be some underlying tensions or unresolved issues between you.

Fighting with one of your parents in a dream may be due to some expectations that they have put on you that you deem unfair.

A fight with your parents may also be rooted in frustration at yourself that you feel you have let them down.

Fighting your brother or sister in a dream may indicate deep-rooted resentment towards them for how they treated you growing up. You may not have been able to express these negative emotions fully in real life, so the dream is a way for you to release some of your lifelong pain.

You may hate how your parents treated you in comparison to how they treated your sibling, and this is your way to even out the score and for your mind to feel peace. These are not healthy feelings, and you should aim to consciously address them in the real world and ask yourself why you are feeling these feelings.

Fighting with a dead person

You may have a dream about someone who has passed away if you have not fully come to terms with their death. This type of dream is likely to arise when a person’s death is still fresh.

This dream may come as a way to settle some issues you had with the person before they died. You may feel they neglected on their duties (maybe as a parent, or friend) by dying. Therefore, a dream of fighting them would act as a chance to get some closure from them.

You may also be feeling guilt about the way you left things with them. You may think they hate you and would want to fight you because you were not a good friend to them before they died. You may feel like you did not treat them as well as you should have when they were dead, and this dream comes as a way to give yourself the beating you think you deserve.

Use this type of dream as a way to reflect on the way you treat people in future, and make sure you’re always on good terms with your loved ones.

Someone trying to fight me

Dreams of someone trying to fight you are usually very scary. The person trying to fight you in these dreams can often represent a fear in your real life that you know you need to confront. Your mind is telling you that the threat will only stop chasing you when you stop running.

These dreams of being chased can be caused by a sense of vulnerability, and persistent anxiety in your real life, that is now seeping into your sleep. The person trying to fight you makes you feel uneasy, like you feel when you are awake. The dream acts as an alarm that you are experiencing inner turmoil.

The person trying to fight you may also represent elements of your psyche that you have been trying to repress seeping into your sleep. They chase you because they are still part of you; your mind is telling you that you didn’t change, you just repressed feelings.

two men fighting

Fighting with an old friend

A dream about fighting an old friend is often caused by you feeling that there were some unresolved issues between the two of you. Maybe it was the argument that broke up the friendship that is still troubling you. Maybe you feel like they cut you off for no reason. A dream about knocking them out may feel like the chance you’ve subconsciously been waiting for: to hurt them how they hurt you.

On the flip side, you may be fighting with an old friend in a dream because you are feeling guilt about how you hurt them. If the friendship ended because of something you did, there’s a chance you will have some things you wish you could have said or done differently in the situation with your friend. A fight rather than a handshake or hug in the dream means a part of you thinks you deserve pain for what happened.

You may also still be uncomfortable being away from them. This may be especially true if you were lifelong friends. It is difficult to adjust when we lose someone important to us, and it’s in such stressful situations that the fight-or-flight instinct kicks in. Fighting may be the way your unconscious mind chooses to process the stressful situation of losing a friend.

Further reading: What Does It Mean to Dream About an Old Friend?

Fighting a pregnant woman

If you have a dream about fighting a pregnant woman, it’s likely your mind recollecting a past encounter you’ve had with a pregnant woman. This could be your sister, mum or partner. This would mean that the memory has been significant to your current emotional state, and that it may be causing you some distress. It may be time to apologise.

Fighting an old lady

Fighting old ladies in dreams may be a method your mind uses to feel powerful. You might feel insignificant in your workplace or in your home. This can make you feel very weak and mortal. Since, in your mind, you are weak, your mind selects someone even more vulnerable for you to fight in your dream. This relieves some of your frustration. However, this is neither a healthy or sustainable mechanism to feeling more virile. Think about making changes to your daily routine, and trying things you wouldn’t normally do.

You may still be feeling guilt from a negative encounter you’ve had with an elderly woman in the past. Your mind is reminding you of what you did which led to it being intensely distressed.

The older woman may also represent a deep-rooted fear of growing old. Fighting her represents your hatred of the aging process.

Fighting with your partner

Dreams of fighting with your partner will typically arise when the two of you have unresolved issues in the real world. Maybe you guys have been bickering a lot lately, and you are using your dreams to finish conversations that were not finished in real life. These dreams represent the state you think your relationship is in. Use dreams of fighting your partner as a sign that you have problems in your relationship that need to be solved.

This dream could be telling you that you may be losing feelings for your partner. You may have been ignoring signs of your relationship turning sour in the real world, but subconsciously you are aware of the change in dynamic. And since you don’t want to have the dreaded conversation in real life, these worried thoughts have manifested into a dream in which the two of you release your frustration on each other.

Fighting a stranger

If you’re a very aggressive character, you may have dreams of fighting with a stranger. The stranger may represent someone or something from your past that caused you trauma or hurt you. You know that you cannot go about having street fights in real life because of your trauma, so it is only when you are relaxed in the comfort of your subconscious that you are able to unwind and throw a few punches and kicks. This type of dream may suggest that you are harbouring a lot of pain and anger.

The stranger may also symbolise facets of your own personality. These will be traits that you dislike about yourself, traits you think limit your life. Since you struggle with mentally combating these habits in the real world, your mind develops a dreamland for you to physically fight them.

Fighting for survival

Dreams in which you fight for survival may consist of being shot at war, getting jumped by a group of guys, or getting hit by a bus.

These dreams suggest you feel overwhelmed by something in your life. You may feel you are fighting a losing battle with your debt, love life, or your career. This can make you constantly anxious, and your dream is simply a visualisation of this emotion.

boxers fighting

Dreams About Fighting an Animal

Fighting a bear

Dreaming of fighting a bear may be very normal if you are someone that lives near bears, or someone who is very interested in nature and animals. Bears may be a threat in your local area, so it is normal to feel slightly anxious.

It’s also possible that getting attacked by a bear in a dream represents how vulnerable you feel in the real world. It will often be people who feel they are vulnerable to attacks, that will dream of being attacked. The large, ferocious bear may embody the battles you are facing in the real world that feel too large to overcome. Understand that obstacles in life can always be overcome.

Fighting a snake

Since the animal snake is often associated with liars, the snake you are fighting in your dream may be a reflection of someone who has deceived you in the past. You may still be angry at them, so your mind chooses to fight the issue while you are asleep.

On the contrary, it is also possible that you or someone else views you as a ‘snake’, or deceiver. Therefore, you may be combating with that negative side of yourself. This suggests that you wish to become a better person, which means that this dream is a positive sign.

Fighting a tiger

Like the bear, in many cultures, tigers are seen as powerful animals that symbolise strength and courage. This would make the dream a positive omen, as it may reflect the belief you have in yourself.

The tiger may also be associated with immense danger. Thus, the dream may be a manifestation of your fears and anxieties. There is no way of overpowering a tiger, so the dream might reflect an enormous problem you are fighting in the real world.

Is there someone in your life that is scary like a tiger? The tiger may also represent someone in your life that you view as stronger and more aggressive than you. This, then, would make the dream less about your own pitfalls, and more about the bad side of another person. Take the time to think about if this person adds value to your life.

Dreams About Fighting in a Certain Place

Fighting in church

It is usually Christians that would have a dream about fighting in a church. It is ungodly to have a physical fight with someone as a Christian, so this dream may be playing on your biggest fear as a Christian – upsetting God. Always being an upstanding Christian may cause you great anxiety in everyday life, and this feeling may be manifesting in your dreams.

Since hurting other people wilfully is sinful in Christianity, this dream may suggest an internal conflict in a person. You may be going through an identity crisis, struggling to find yourself in religion or otherwise. This may have caused a build-up in nervous energy that led you to lash out in your dream.

Fighting in jail

A jail is a confinement to which people fear going. Fighting in jail in a dream may represent a basal hatred of authority. You may feel trapped in something in your real life, be it your relationship, your job, or a routine, and this dream is a visualisation of your inner conflict.

Another view is that you feel you deserve to be beaten up in jail due to something you did in your past. You may have committed a crime, or hurt someone, and now your mind is telling you that you did something bad. Consider apologising to the person. And if the situation can no longer be fixed, let go of it. As the saying goes, don’t cry over spilt milk.

Further reading: Meanings of Dreaming About You or Someone Going to Jail

Fighting in the dark

When it’s dark, our sense of sight is greatly reduced. This makes us vulnerable to attack.

A dream about fighting in the dark may mean that you feel vulnerable in your daily life. You may feel that you can easily be hurt, and that things never go your way. This darkness may represent problems always seeming to follow you, and you never being able to live your life the way you want to live it.

You may be uncertain about something in your life. Perhaps you are not sure whether you should change jobs. Maybe you are considering leaving your partner. The fight in the dark may represent an inner conflict related to this dilemma. The dark would represent your uncertainty, in this situation.

If you typically feel lonely, the darkness may also be a metaphor for your circle of loved ones. You may have constant thoughts of people hating you, and that’s why you are getting hit when you can’t see – you are fighting your thoughts.

FAQs About Fighting Dreams

What’s the spiritual meaning of fighting in a dream?

Generally, the spiritual meaning of fighting dreams will be that your soul is disturbed. Something in your life is preventing you from being at peace. This means that you are having challenges in your daily life, which are causing you distress.

Being hit or attacked in a dream may symbolise that you feel vulnerable in your day-to-day life. This would make you uneasy and anxious. Fighting in a dream may also suggest deep-rooted feelings of anger or frustration that have had to be suppressed to fit in with society.

Overall, the spiritual meaning of fighting in a dream will depend on the dreamer’s life experiences and culture.

It may be helpful for the dreamer to reflect on the dream and try to identify any personal issues or challenges that may be related to the dream imagery. The dreamer may find it useful to think back on the dream and analyse any personal problems that might be connected to the imagery.

What’s the biblical meaning of fighting in a dream?

The subject of fighting in dreams is not expressly covered in the Bible. However, the Bible does mention the possibility that Christians may experience spiritual battles against various malevolent forces of evil while trying to follow God’s will.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 reads:

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

This passage says that believers have ‘weapons’ to fight, which are not ‘carnal’, meaning they aren’t physical. This means that our weapons are spiritual – thoughts, energies – and these weapons must be used to stand assured in your belief in Christ. In this context, fights in our dreams are fights against all things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.

In Ephesians 6:12, Paul writes:

“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

This passage paints the people we fight in our dreams as evil spirits. According to this scripture, fights in dreams may be seen as a metaphor for the dreamer’s personal struggle to resist the negative and carnal temptations of the world and grow closer to God.

Overall, the biblical meaning of fighting in a dream depend on the specific details of the dream and the dreamer’s own personal interpretation of the dream.

In order to navigate their spiritual journey, it may help to seek guidance from God, and for the dreamer to reflect on the dream themselves, and to consider any personal challenges that may be related to the dream fight.

Why do I punch in my dreams?

There can be many reasons why you may punch or fight in your dreams. Dreams often reflect your emotional or mental state. Punching in your dreams may suggest that you are angry or resentful in your day-to-day life. The dream may act as a channel to release pent-up stress caused by inner conflicts.

Punching in your dreams may also be a way to symbolically assert yourself as dominant and authoritative. This may happen if you see yourself as weak and vulnerable.

The true reason you punch or fight in your dreams will depend on the state of your life and mind, as well as the details of the dream. Consider if there are any connections between your real life and what happened in the dream.

How You Can Interpret Your Dreams

In conclusion, dreams usually tell us what is going on in our minds. Their meaning may be obscure. The dreamer will need to think about their dream, and see how it may relate to their daily life.

A dream’s meaning depends as much on the dreamer’s mindset and experiences, as it does on the context of the dream itself. Try to solve issues head-on while awake to let you sleep more peacefully.

Have you had a dream of fighting anything else?

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