My never-ending personal hell

I’ve been out of school for just about 2 years now. While I recently started entertaining the notion of returning for grad work, I haven’t even picked a subject yet let alone seriously thought about it. But all along, pretty much since the beginning of college until the present, every few months I have the same dream (not the same in the details, but in the overall “plot”):

In the dream, I am doing something completely unrelated… Last night I was in a computer store talking with someone about the problem I am having with the Mac. After awhile, it will hit me, that I haven’t attended any of my classes this semester, and it is already several weeks into the term. I start to think about how I initially just skipped the first few classes, but then I somehow just “forgot” about classes until now, several weeks later.. I start panicking and thinking about each class and if it was possible that I could return, after 6 missed weeks of class, and still pull off a passing grade. I soon realize that isn’t going to happen and then freak the hell out. I wake up, in a cold sweat, looking at the clock still completely convinced that I have missed 6 weeks of class, and it takes me a few minutes to come to my senses…

Now, I have lots of nightmares, but this one is one of the few that persists so long after I wake up.. Normally, if the dream manages to wake me up at all, I wake up in a panic and quickly settle back down into sleep… But this school dream, I am literally freaking out for minutes after I wake… What the hell is up with that?