Dream Meaning Being Chased: 5 Unique Reasons For This Dream

The dream meaning of being chased is a pretty common dream when you feel like you need to get away from something in your waking life.

Dreams are the gateway to your subconscious mind. The things that occur represent specific meanings to you. The dream meaning of being chased has specific meanings but also how you react to being chased is very important.

In this article, I go over what the dream meaning of being chased means, what the person chasing you symbolizes, and what your reaction to being chased represents.

Dream Meaning Being Chased

#1 Dream Meaning Being Chased – You Are Running Away from Something

If you are being chased in your dream it is because you are running away from something. Look at your life and ask yourself, “what don’t I want to face right now?”

It is likely that you are fearful of something, and this fear is causing you to feel like you need to get away from it. However, it won’t go away until you face it. It will keep coming at you until you deal with it.

If you do stop in your dream and face this thing, it means that you are ready to face whatever it is that you’ve been running from. You are sick of running away and are now ready to deal with it. This is a really positive sign that you are overcoming this issue in your real life and working through it right now.

#2 Dream Meaning Being Chased – You’re Anxious About Something

Another dream meaning of being chased is that you are anxious about something. Think about running away from someone, it gets your adrenaline going! So, if you are being chased, you are likely anxious about something.

Notice the symbols in your dream for further clarification:

Who was chasing you?

What did they look like?

Were they catching up with you?

How fast were they going?

Was there anything else around you?

#3 Dream Meaning Being Chased – You Don’t Want Someone to Be Around You

Your dream of being chased could be more literal in that you don’t want to be around someone, yet they keep chasing you. You are trying to get away and they won’t get a hint.

If the person in your dream isn’t the same person in real life that you are trying to get away from, that is ok. They may hold some of the same traits as the person you are running from. Or they may symbolize that person in some way.

Dreams rarely show us exactly what is happening but use symbols for us to interpret. The person you are running from could be a symbol. The reason for this is that it may be easier to see something when you are more detached from it.

Think of your dreams as going to a movie, you get a perspective of the characters, but you are detached since it isn’t real life. You can see things that you may not be able to see if you are emotionally invested in them.

#4 Dream Meaning Being Chased – You Feel Like You’re Being Attacked

Another dream meaning of being chased is that you feel attacked in real life. This may not be physical, but emotional, or verbal. Basically, you feel that someone or many people are attacking you in some way, shape, or form.

You could also feel like you are being attacked by yourself. If for example, you’ve been saying not so nice things to yourself and ‘attacking’ yourself, you maybe running from yourself to escape it.

#5 Dream Meaning Being Chased – You Don’t Know How to Cope with Your Problems and Don’t Want to Look at Them

When you are being chased it means that you are essentially running away from something. There may be some things going on in your life that you don’t know how to cope with, so you avoid looking at them or run away from them.

This dream is asking you to find an alternative way to deal with your problems. If you keep avoiding them, they will keep chasing you until they catch you and then you will be faced head-on with them to deal with. It’s beneficial to do it now before your fear gets too big.

Once you face your problems head-on, your anxiety and fear will disappear, and you’ll find that running away from them was actually more stressful than facing them.

Dream Meaning Being Chased – Who or What is Chasing You?

• You Are Running Away from Someone You Know

If someone you know is chasing you, it doesn’t mean that you are running from that person in real life. You have to look at what they symbolize to you.

For example, if one of your ex-boyfriends is chasing you, it doesn’t mean that you are necessarily running from them but maybe an element of your past that you don’t want to look at. Maybe they always made you feel insecure, and you are running away from the feeling more than from the specific person.

• You Are Running Away from Someone You Don’t Know

If you are being chased by someone you don’t know then you may be afraid of the unknown or of strangers. Or it may not be that you are afraid, but that you feel insecure around strangers or don’t want to be around the unknown.

Maybe you are stepping into a new part of your life where you are going to meet a bunch of new people and it is bringing up some anxiety within you.

Look at how you felt when you were being chased by someone you didn’t know to get further information.

• You Are Running Away from an Animal or An Insect

If you are being chased by an animal, look at what that animal represents to you. You may want to look up the traits and characteristics of that animal as well. Different animals represent different things to everyone so how you feel about a specific animal will be different than how someone else feels about it.

For example, if you are scared of dogs then you are running away from something that scares you. What traits do dogs have that scare you the most? Did you have a bad experience with a dog and now you are afraid? These are clues as to why you are running away from it.

However, if you love dogs then you have to look at why you are running away from something you love.

Do you feel that you don’t deserve love?

Are you scared of love?

•  You Are Running Away from Yourself

When you are being chased by yourself, you are running from an aspect of yourself.

What is it that you don’t want to be a part of yourself that you are pushing away?

What scares you about yourself that you feel the need to run away from it?

What are you ashamed of?

Take a look at the areas of yourself that you feel you are running away from and that you don’t want to accept within yourself. It can be helpful to do some shadow work if this happens as a way to accept yourself and look at the deep aspects of yourself. 

How Far Away Is the Pursuer and Are They Catching Up to You?

How far away the pursuer chasing you is has a meaning of its own. Below are a few meanings to help you understand where you are in your life in dealing with this issue.

• They Are Right Behind You

If the pursuer chasing you is right behind you, it means that this issue is very much a concern in your life right now and is in your immediate environment. You can’t avoid it as it’s right there following you everywhere.

This issue wants to be looked at now. It’s affecting your life and needs to be taken care of.

• They Are Far Away from You

If they are far away, the problem you are avoiding may be a new one and doesn’t have a ton of momentum yet, so it hasn’t gotten very close to you. Or it may not be that significant of an issue and it being far away signifies that it’s not in your immediate space.

This issue likely isn’t bombarding you all day long, it’s more of an afterthought. It will need to be looked at eventually but right now there is quite a bit of space between you and it.

• They Are Catching Up to You

In your dream meaning of being chased, if your pursuer is catching up to you, it means that your problem or situation is getting closer to you all the time. It is coming into your life more and more and soon it will catch you and you’ll have to look at it.

Right now is a great time to deal with this because when it catches you it might be worse. Take charge before it gets too out of control.

• You Are Losing Them

In your dream meaning of being chased, if you’re losing your pursuer, it means that you are able to dodge the issue…for now. You still have time to figure it out and not deal with it.

This may also indicate that the problem is leaving you as it is getting farther and farther away. You may be able to completely get rid of this issue with a little bit of focus. It seems like what you are doing is working and you are getting farther away from it.

• They Catch You

If the pursuer catches you then it means that you can no longer run away from it. If you’ve avoided looking at something in the past, you can no longer do that as it’s right in your space now and will ‘force’ you to look at it. This is letting you know to be prepared to deal with this situation or issue now.

• They Don’t Catch You

If the pursuer you are running away from doesn’t catch you, then it’s letting you know that you still have time to figure it out. You don’t need to deal with this issue yet because there is space between you.

Of course, it’s always a good idea to deal with things as they come up, but your dream is letting you know that you still have some time to think and figure it out before it’s in your face and you are ‘forced’ to deal with it.

How You React to Being Chased in Your Dream

1. You Run

If you continue to run in your dream of being chased, it means that you aren’t ready to face your problem…yet. It doesn’t mean that in the future you won’t, but right now you feel like you need to get away from it.

You feel like the only way to escape a situation, or a person is to run away. If you run fast enough eventually you will lose them and won’t have to deal with them anymore. You don’t want drama or the conflict that might happen if you stop running and face them. You aren’t ready to talk about whatever is bothering you.

2. You Eventually Stop and Fight Back

If you fight back or face the person chasing you, it means that you are tired of running. You can no longer ignore your problem and you are ready to face it no matter what the consequences may be.

You know that running isn’t helping and now is the time to try a different approach. You are no longer scared of this thing and are taking your power back by facing it. You are overcoming this thing and facing it head-on, no more sweeping it under the rug or running away from it.

3. You Hide

If you hide in your dream meaning of being chased, then you don’t want to face your problem. You want it to go away. Maybe you think that if you hide for long enough it will get tired of trying to find you and go away.

Hiding in your dream signifies that you aren’t ready to look at something or face it in real life. That is ok, maybe you aren’t ready to face it yet. Maybe it’s too painful. Whatever the reason, you don’t want it to find you.

4. You Are Barely Able to Move

If you are being chased and can you barely move and every movement takes a tremendous amount of effort, then you are trying your absolute hardest to break free from some situation that is very difficult. You are using all your effort to move forward, despite the circumstances that are trying to hold you back.

If you do get some movement, even small ones, then you are currently breaking free from this. This is something that shows progress because, despite all odds of being chased and barely able to move, you are still moving ahead, slowly. You aren’t going to let this thing win and catch you.

Final Thoughts – Dream Meaning Being Chased

Being chased in a dream doesn’t feel good. No one likes to run away from something that is trying to get them. However, how you choose to deal with it says a lot about how you are handling it.

Also, the pursuer who is chasing you symbolizes something. Pay attention to all the details in your dream and how you feel in your dream.

Make sure to write down your dreams so that you can go back to them to find the spiritual hidden meaning of them. Go back to them often to see if you have similar dreams and if you notice a pattern within them.

Next time you have a dream about being chased, ask yourself, “who or what are you running away from?”

~Meghan