You're crying in your dream and you can feel it.
Real tears. Real sobs. Real grief pouring out of you in a way that feels overwhelming. Sometimes you know why you're crying. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes it's about something specific. Sometimes it's just this massive wave of emotion that won't stop.
You might wake up with actual tears on your face. Or you might wake up dry but the feeling lingers. That heaviness. That release. That sense of something breaking open inside you.
Crying dreams are different from other dreams because they're so visceral. So emotional. So honest. When you cry in a dream, your subconscious isn't using symbols or metaphors. It's just letting you feel. Really feel. The things you might be holding back when you're awake.
What Crying Dreams Mean
Crying in dreams is about emotional release. About feelings that need to come out. About grief, sadness, or pain that you're carrying but not fully processing when you're awake.
Your subconscious doesn't judge emotions the way your conscious mind does. It doesn't care if crying seems weak or dramatic or too much. It just knows you need to release something. So it gives you permission to cry when you're asleep, when your defenses are down, when you can't stop yourself.
These dreams show up when you're holding too much in. When you're staying strong for everyone else. When you're pretending everything's fine. When you're not letting yourself feel what you actually feel.
The crying is your body's way of processing what your mind won't let you process during the day.
When You're Crying About Something Specific
Sometimes in the dream, you know exactly why you're crying. Someone died. Someone left. Something broke. The reason is clear and the tears make sense.
If you're crying about something that actually happened in your life, the dream is helping you grieve. It's giving you space to feel the loss. To sit with the pain. To let it move through you instead of staying stuck inside.
Grief doesn't follow a timeline. You can lose something years ago and still need to cry about it. The dream is your subconscious saying: you're not done processing this yet. It's okay. Cry again. As many times as you need to.
If you're crying about something that didn't happen in real life, the event in the dream is symbolic. It represents a real loss, but not the literal one in the dream. Maybe someone dies in the dream and you're sobbing. That death probably represents something else ending. A relationship. A phase of life. A version of yourself.
The specific event shows you what the grief is about. What's ending or what's been lost that you haven't fully mourned.
When You Don't Know Why You're Crying
This version is strange. You're crying in the dream but you don't know why. There's no clear reason. No event. No person. Just tears pouring out of you and this overwhelming sadness.
This is about accumulated emotion. About carrying too much for too long. About the buildup of small losses and disappointments and hurts that you never fully felt.
It's like your emotional cup is overflowing and your subconscious is just emptying it out. Not about one thing. About everything. About the weight of being human. About the exhaustion of holding it together all the time.
If you wake up from these dreams, you might feel lighter. Clearer. Like something shifted even though you don't know what it was. That's the release working. That's your system clearing out what it needed to clear out.
When You're Crying and Can't Stop
You're sobbing uncontrollably. It won't stop. The crying goes on and on and you can't calm yourself down. It feels endless.
This is about being overwhelmed. About emotions that are too big to contain. About reaching your breaking point.
Maybe you've been strong for too long. Maybe you've been holding space for everyone else's feelings and ignoring your own. Maybe you've been pushing through crisis after crisis without pausing to process any of it.
The unstoppable crying is your subconscious saying: this is too much. You can't keep going like this. You need to stop and feel. You need to break down so you can break through.
These dreams often come right before or during major emotional releases in waking life. They're preparing you. Showing you it's coming. Or showing you it's already here and you can't hold it back anymore.
When Someone Else Is Crying
You're not crying. Someone else is. And you're watching them. Or comforting them. Or ignoring them. Or unable to help them.
When someone else cries in your dream, they're usually representing a part of you. The part that needs comfort. The part that's hurting. The part you're ignoring or trying to take care of.
If you're comforting them, you're learning to nurture yourself. To give yourself the care you give others. To be gentle with your own pain.
If you're watching them cry and doing nothing, you might be disconnected from your own emotions. Seeing them but not feeling them. Aware that pain exists but not letting yourself touch it.
If it's a specific person you know crying, think about what they represent to you. If it's your mom, it might be about maternal grief. If it's a child, it might be about your inner child needing attention. If it's a stranger, it's probably a more general representation of sadness you're witnessing in yourself or the world.
When You're Crying From Joy
Not all crying in dreams is sad. Sometimes you're crying because you're happy. Overwhelmed with beauty. Moved by love. Touched by something profound.
These are some of the best dreams to have. They're your subconscious reminding you that beauty exists. That joy is possible. That you're still capable of being moved by life.
Happy crying dreams often show up during difficult times. When you're going through something hard. When you've forgotten what joy feels like. Your subconscious gives you a taste of it. A reminder that this feeling still exists inside you even if you haven't felt it in a while.
They can also show up when you're experiencing something wonderful but you're not letting yourself fully feel it. The dream gives you permission to feel the fullness of your joy without holding back.
When You're Trying to Cry But Can't
You want to cry. You need to cry. But the tears won't come. You feel the emotion building but nothing releases. You're stuck.
This is about emotional blockage. About wanting to feel but not being able to. About being so shut down that even in dreams, when your defenses are lower, you still can't access your emotions.
This shows up in people who've learned that crying is dangerous. That showing emotion leads to punishment or mockery. That staying strong is the only option. The blockage is so deep it exists even in the dream space.
If this is your dream, it might be time to explore what's blocking you. What messages you learned about emotions. What you're afraid will happen if you let yourself feel. What it would take to feel safe enough to cry.
When You Wake Up Actually Crying
Sometimes you cry so hard in the dream that you wake up with real tears. Your face is wet. You're actually crying. The emotion carried over from dream to waking.
This is powerful. This is your body processing something deep. Something that couldn't wait for you to be awake and aware. Something that needed to come out now.
When this happens, let it. Don't stop yourself. Don't judge it. Your body is doing important work. It's releasing something that needs to be released. Honor that. Sit with it. Let the tears finish their work.
These wake-up crying moments often happen during times of deep grief. Deep transition. Deep healing. Your system is clearing out old pain so you can move forward lighter.
When You're Crying Alone
You're by yourself in the dream. Crying with nobody around. Nobody sees you. Nobody comforts you. You're alone with your pain.
This can mean two things. Either you're processing alone because you don't feel safe being vulnerable with others. Or you're learning that you can hold your own pain. That you don't always need someone else to make it okay.
If the aloneness feels lonely, you might need more support in your waking life. You might be carrying too much by yourself. You might need to let people in. To share your pain instead of hiding it.
If the aloneness feels okay, even peaceful, you might be developing the capacity to sit with your own emotions. To not need rescue. To trust yourself to survive your own feelings.
When You're Crying in Public
You're crying and people can see you. You're in a crowded place. At work. At school. Somewhere public where you don't want to be seen breaking down but you can't stop.
This is about the fear of being seen in your vulnerability. About the shame of not being able to hold it together. About the terror that people will see you as weak if they see you cry.
If people in the dream are judging you, that's your own internalized judgment. Your fear of how others will perceive you. Your belief that crying means failing.
If people in the dream are kind to you, that's your subconscious showing you that vulnerability can be met with compassion. That not everyone will judge you for feeling things. That it's safe to be human in front of others.
When You're Crying Over Something Small
You're crying over something that seems minor. A broken object. A missed bus. Something that wouldn't normally make you cry. But in the dream, it's devastating.
This is about how small things become the last straw. About how you can hold and hold and hold until one tiny thing breaks you. The thing you're crying about isn't really what you're crying about. It's everything else underneath.
These dreams show up when you're at capacity. When you've been strong through big things and then something small happens and you fall apart. The dream is showing you that you're carrying too much. That your tolerance is maxed out. That you need to release some of the pressure.
When You're Crying and Someone Stops You
Someone tells you to stop crying. To be strong. To pull yourself together. And you try to stop but you can't. Or you do stop but the emotion is still there, just trapped inside now.
This is about internalized messages about emotion. About being told that crying is weak or dramatic or too much. About learning to shut down your feelings to make other people comfortable.
The person stopping you might be a real person from your life who does this. Or they might represent your own inner voice. The part of you that polices your emotions. That tells you to get over it. That says you don't have the right to feel what you feel.
If you keep having these dreams, it's time to question those messages. To ask yourself who benefits from you not crying. Who taught you that your emotions are a problem. And whether you want to keep believing them.
When Children Are Crying
If you dream about children crying, especially if you're the adult trying to comfort them, the child usually represents your inner child. The young version of you that still carries old pain.
If you're able to comfort them, you're doing good work. You're learning to parent yourself. To give yourself what you needed and didn't get. To be the adult for your own inner child.
If you can't comfort them or you don't know how, you might be struggling to access self-compassion. You might not know how to soothe yourself. You might be aware that you're hurting but not know how to make it better.
These dreams are invitations to learn. To figure out what you needed then and what you need now. To practice being gentle with the parts of you that are still scared or sad or small.
What to Do With These Dreams
If you keep dreaming about crying, your subconscious is telling you something needs to be felt. Something needs to be released. Something is asking for your attention.
Ask yourself: what am I holding back? What emotion am I not letting myself fully feel? Where am I being strong when I actually need to break down?
Is there grief you haven't processed? Loss you haven't mourned? Pain you've been avoiding? Sadness you've been pushing away?
Give yourself permission to feel. Not just in dreams but when you're awake. Find safe spaces. Safe people. Safe times. And let it out.
Cry in the shower. Cry in your car. Cry into your pillow. Cry with a friend. Cry with a therapist. Just cry.
Because held emotions don't disappear. They just get buried. And buried emotions create problems. They show up as tension. As illness. As dreams where you're sobbing and don't know why.
What This Dream Means
Crying dreams are about release. About your body's need to process emotion. About the wisdom of letting yourself feel instead of constantly holding back.
They're showing you that you're human. That you have limits. That you can't be strong all the time without breaking. That crying isn't weakness, it's wisdom.
They're giving you permission to grieve. To hurt. To feel sad or overwhelmed or tired or broken. To not be okay even when everyone needs you to be okay.
And they're showing you that release is possible. That you can let it out. That you can cry and survive it. That emotions move through you when you let them. That they only get stuck when you try to hold them in.
So if you're crying in your dreams, listen. Your subconscious is showing you what your conscious mind won't acknowledge. That you're carrying too much. That you need to let something go. That it's time to break down so you can break through.
And that's okay. That's healthy. That's human.
Crying doesn't mean you're falling apart. It means you're releasing what you've been holding together.
And sometimes the only way to keep going is to stop holding it together. To let yourself fall apart for a little while. To cry until you're empty.
So you can fill back up again. This time with what you actually need instead of what you think you should be able to carry.
That's what the dream is telling you. One honest tear at a time.
This article is part of our Common Dreams collection. Read our comprehensive Common Dreams guide to understand all your most frequent nighttime stories.
