Free Falling

          My eyes are everywhere, looking for any possible way out.  I walk straight ahead as far as I could without falling, all I could see is water. Every direction I look; the further I search for hope, the more water comes into sight.  I was alone most of the time, sometimes there were people accompanying me; however, we never made contact.   There wasn't enough time to get to know anybody.  It seemed as if time were running short; it was only a matter of seconds.  5...4...3..2..1... My eyes stay open until the very end, watching the sun in the distance.  My legs numb, I clench a tight fist as my heart drops; my body jerks, I open my eyes -- staring at the ceiling in my bedroom.
         This reoccurring dream, played over and over every time my lids shut during the night. I never hit the water. As many times as I have had this dream, I never came closer, nor strained away from the water. There are different perspectives in which this dream could be analyzed.
        The Psychoanalytical/Psychodynamic Theory breaks the dream down into manifest and latent content.  The manifest content is the experience; how you remember it. The manifest content of my dream is being surrounded by water, and that I am located on the top of a building, with no interaction with any being. Latent content is the hidden meaning; what the manifest symbolizes. Water is a common and very powerful symbol. The never ending ocean can symbolize uncertainty, while the building can portray perspective, and the lack of communication can be a sign of isolation. The culmination would be that I metaphorically acted out my suppressed desire to be noticed, and attempted to fix my insecurities (self-uncertainty) and alter the world's perspective of myself; however, it could also be as simple as an uncertainty of water, instilling fear within myself.
        The Cognitive Dream Theory involves 5 parts of conception: yourself, others, the world, moral and conflict. I was by myself, others didn't seem to matter at that moment, the world was simple, the moral was complex.  Last, the conflict was how I fell, and why I never came into reach with the water.  This dream could have signified a drop or fall in a serious matter that played a significant role in my life (school, friendships, relationships).  It played out am average day that I had experienced routinely; a combination of events and morals that I've acquired daily. Typically I strove for success in school, in order to make up for my lack of confidence that I never reached, just as I fell towards the water but never actually reached it.
         Each of these perspectives can have similar meanings, or opposing meanings based on how YOU perceive them.  Dreams can be whatever you make of them.  I lean more towards Freud's, Psychodynamic Theory, rather than Hall's Dreams-For-Survival Theory (Cognitive Theory).  I believe that my dreams symbolize my unconscious thoughts, fears and desires.
       

P.S.
     It is a popular myth that if you hit the bottom in a dream, you die in reality.  I have always believed this, since I always have waken up before I ever reached the water.  Recently, I have had a similar dream to my recurring childhood dream. The dream had the same type of scheme, but there were key differences, that I've never experienced. The first was that I chose to jump off the building into the water.  Second, it was a pool I was jumping into instead of a never-ending sea. Third, I had all the time in the world; it was recreational.  Fourth and most importantly, this time I had actually hit the ground. My dream had made a complete 360 from what I was used to.  I had intentionally jumped off a building into a pool for fun a few times; the last time I actually missed the water and bounced off the concrete face first.  I felt a numbness; however, I picked myself up as though nothing happened.  The most frightening part of the dream was seeing my distorted face in the mirror; I had a bruised nose, two black eyes and a cut that ran straight across my forehead stemming to my left ear. Contrary to popular belief, I woke up that morning;talk about free falling. Analyze that?