Imaginary Repeat Scenarios

I used to create dreams for myself all the time - I couldn't control my anxious thoughts, so I'd imagine scenarios (often quite horrible ones) to help me fall asleep. I did develop a habit of daydreaming these scenarios to distract myself during difficult times and that became a bit too much (to the extent that I couldn't focus on what was going on in the real world!).

As long as it's helping you and not worrying you, if it helps you sleep, then go with it. If you find it's becoming too much or causing you distress, try replacing it with something like audio books, where you can still imagine scenarios but don't have to do the thinking yourself.

Part of the diagnostic criteria for autism is the need for routine. I have a few daydreams I replay again and again and have done so for over 10 years. As such, I'm sceptical that it relates to a need for security and rather part of your neurology. 

I have always had the tendency to treat my bed as a protective den. So I have long felt that heavy eiderdowns are rather useful, as certain experts have suggested. (A bit like Temple Grandin's need for pressure, perhaps.) There are also imaginary & repeated scenarios. These scenarios have perhaps become a bit more more sophisticated over the years, but not that much. I do tend to think of myself as a bit of a Peter Pan character. I've always tended to look rather young for my age.

Another thing is that I tend to weave highly improbable daydreams, from certain practical aspects of my immediate reality. For example, the company I work for, in conjunction with other me-friendly individuals, might suddenly morph into a day-dream about a benevolent organization. ( I come from a rather politically-minded family.) Again, adulthood hasn't really had much effect on the daydreams I so frequently run. But it never gets to the point where I actually begin to believe in those daydreams as reality. Indeed, I like to think I am fairly well-grounded. The downside of that might be that after so many improbable daydreams, I rarely take any real risks with my imagination. I don't share those day-dreams with anyone, either! So, I frequently suffer from an inability to express my more artistic side. I'd say that has impeded my very lacklustre career.

I would agree with Plastic's idea that you might be self-programming security. I have read quite a lot about self-hypnosis recently, and have noted that people often begin to put themselves into a somnambulistic trance by running ideas through their mind about being successful in their own terms. That would basically involve heavy rehearsal of what you have to say and how you conduct yourself around other people. That helps me to begin the process of falling asleep, but of course it is also a type of auto-suggestion that I believe has considerable merits. But it also seems to be important to ensure that your imagination is rehearsing very practical things to do and say; things that might well persuade real people to listen and cooperate. So it is perhaps better to avoid some more fantastical scenarios; but you could be nevertheless quite imaginative in being unusually thoughtful for a change. And I'm sure there's no harm in occasionally demonstrating a bit of showmanship.

Yes - but you're in the habit of controlling your thoughts to a comfortable, known place.   What happens if you're somewhere else - on a friend's sofa or on holiday somewhere?    What happens if your too tired to follow the procedure?   Where else do your dreams go?

I take lots of meds and a side-effect is ultra-real dreams - every night is a white-knuckle ride of attacking spaceships or inspecting rural property for sale in France or trying to get off a sinking Victorian ship or having the super-power to fly or working in a place I've never been before or being the only one able to see through force-field projected by a weak army to make them look strong - why not try to imagine something else - you might enjoy it.

I think I concur, but just to clarify these aren't dreams, they are pre-sleep thoughts.

It sounds like you're self-programming your dreams to give you a sense of security.    Same dream = safety.  No unwanted dreams spoiling your routine.

And we do like routine!