Recurring Dreams

For almost as long as I can remember, I would constantly have nightmares, particularly the kind where I die or am about to die right before I wake up. In these dreams I would be killed in the most awful ways I could imagine, such as falling from a high place-I have a fear of heights; or I would be locked underneath a pool and drown-I've had a fear of water since I almost drowned at eight years old. I had no idea why these dreams were happening, I would have no way of getting help or control in them. I have come to realize though that these dreams would occur at the most stressful times in my life, and maybe they symbolized that lack of control I felt I had in the situations happening in reality.
Fortunately, I haven't had any falling off a cliff dreams in a while, but I have continued to have nightmares since a very young age. I've never been able to easily fall asleep, and I believe that lack of sleep can pertain to some crazy dreams. However, throughout the past couple of months, the nightmares have somewhat ceased. I honestly think it's because my faithful boyfriend talks to me every night until I go to sleep and tells me sweet things and makes me feel safe. We also have adopted this cute little routine where he kisses the tops of my eye lids to insure I will have good dreams. It's probably all psychological, but it works nonetheless.
I have good dreams too, don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of everything. Sometimes I just have plain nonsensical dreams involving people I haven't even spoken to for ages, or people I do speak to saying things they would never say in everyday life. I firmly believe that dreams have a purpose though, they are a part of our subconscious mind, a part of the mind that picks up on things we are unaware of until we get tiny snippets in our dreams.