Has a bad dream ever left you feeling anxious the next day? What to do about it?

Last night I had a dream that was emotionally exhausting to say the least. A guy I haven’t seen in a long time and miss very much in real life, visited my house with some of his friends and family As we embraced we had a passionate kiss and I started crying (in my dream). I actually felt overwhelmed with happiness as I was having the dream, so it started off as a good dream I was enjoying.

We were then at a low key party speaking with friends when he disappeared. I went to look for him and ended up at his hostel/hotel. When I arrived with a friend the hotel/hostel owner told me that he had killed him as he didn’t like him or his friends very much. That one of them was still alive. In my dream I refused to not keep looking for him and instead of running away kept going up the stairs of the hotel/hostel and found his friend. I actually felt really distraught at this point.

I woke up from my dream shaken and my alarm went off three minutes later. All of today I have been unable to shake the feeling off. Usually I’m able to say to myself ‘it was just a dream’ but with this dream it replicated real life whereby I had an amazing experience with him then had to say goodbye that still affects me to this day. I must point out that I have spoken to the actual person recently and am awaiting him to respond to my last message from a week ago which has annoyed/upset me and my dream likely has something to do with this.

Can anyone interpret what this dream was telling me about my subconscious? Has anyone experienced a dream like this? What did you do to feel better and react better if it occurs again? I think if I can understand it, then it won’t shake me as much.