Have you been lately experiencing falling in your dreams? Scientifically speaking, these are also called hypnic or hypnagogic jerks. These are sudden muscle spasms that you usually don’t have much control over as you’re asleep.
It’s hard to differentiate between hypnic jerks and the sensation of falling in dreams.
But symbolically speaking, falling in dreams can mean several things! We’ll decipher some key and commonly experienced falling scenarios in this article.
Before that, let’s quickly understand why you dream about falling.
General Interpretation of Falling in Your Dreams
Now, falling in your dreams can have multiple interpretations. Firstly, don’t worry, you’re not ALONE!
But it generally points to the fact that you might find yourself helpless in a situation, or you may feel that you are losing complete control or grip over certain circumstances in your life. And you’re unable to figure out if you’re headed in the right direction.
It is that sinking feeling that makes you believe that your life is slipping away from you. And it’s not the way you’d thought it would be or should be. These persistent feelings of anxiety, worry, insecurity, etc., can sooner or later trigger such dreams.
It could be a one-off thing, or you may get regular bouts of dreams of you falling into or down to someplace unknown. Either way, you should always evaluate it, and this article is an attempt to help you do that.
What do Dreams About Falling Mean?
FALLING from an airplane, off a cliff, from the top of a tall building, etc. It has happened to all of us at least once. But what does it symbolize, though? Sadness, lack of confidence, insecurity?? Well, the meanings could be different for different people.
So, let’s try and find out what it means spiritually and symbolically.
1. Falling off a High-Rise Building
If you dream of falling off a tall building, you may be frustrated with life, fed up with failing repeatedly.
The feeling of disappointment when you realize that you’ve got a lot of catching up to do in life might lead you to have such a dream.
It also probably means that you’re struggling to overcome the overwhelming emotion of loss or failure. In some cases, it may even point to the fact that you have massive trust issues. And you’re in a constant state of isolation, lost and disconnected from the rest of the world.
2. Falling Off a Cliff
This dream signifies the mystery of the FUTURE and the fear that comes along with it! Now they say that change is the only constant. It’s true, and you need to embrace it.
But change is hard too. So, if you fear changes or drastic transformations in your life, wherein you may feel that you’re losing touch with your current way of life. You may get dreams of falling off a cliff.
It indicates that you’re nervous about what life has in store for you. And worried about how new opportunities will unfold in the future! It symbolizes anticipatory anxiety, where you are fearful of things you can’t control or predict.
You’re paranoid and concerned that bad things will happen.
3. Falling Down an Elevator
How do you feel when you’re going down the elevator shaft? Stuck forever?? Well, if you’re claustrophobic, you’ll definitely feel trapped and suffocated! It’s similar to the feeling of falling down a fathomless rabbit hole.
Do you also dream about the elevator cable snapping and you falling down to your doom? The imagination is scary, isn’t it? This one’s bad, and it surely can make you wake up with a ton of anxiety. What does it mean, though?
It symbolizes that you’ve got the blues and you’re in a state of absolute melancholy!
Everything around you feels gloomy. And you think to yourself that you’re a miserable existence in this world. This could be a very delicate emotional state to be in.
On the flip side, you may also feel that you’re moving down into the depths of darkness. It signifies that you’re putting up with challenging circumstances or you’re going through depression, looking forward to nothing in life.
There’s another way of looking at this. It might even indicate a darker, daunting journey down to your unconscious to uncover the “Real You” residing there, and being face-to-face with it, without any fear.
4. Falling Through an Empty Sky
Now freefalling through the clouds in your dreams sounds incredible! Just like the movies.
It might seem grand, but it symbolizes a major transition in your life – positive or negative! Think of something like a turning point in your life where you’re grappling with making a critical decision. Yes, that’s when you could frequently have dreams of falling through an empty sky.
5. Falling on The Ground
Dreaming about falling to the ground with a loud thud seems unpleasant, right?
It has a hidden question for you! It’s time to quiz and evaluate how relationships are progressing in your life.
Is there any tension that you need to address or resolve?
Dreaming of falling on the ground symbolizes pain and hurt in a way. It can also mean faithlessness or disloyalty coming to light in your relationships that can ultimately cause a great deal of emotional and mental agony.
6. Falling From an Airplane
Are you terrified of flying in airplanes? Most people usually go bonkers and love traveling in planes.
You may probably feel that it is just in the head. And the brain is acting up for no reason.
But the phobia is REAL. Having anxiety attacks while taking flights for trips you wish you could avoid can be stressful.
Now imagine having this phobia (Aerophobia) and dreaming about planes crashing – FEAR LEVEL.
This can trigger a lot of your bad memories! If you regularly have terrible dreams of an airplane crashing. Did you ever wonder what that meant! They are actually a reflection of the toughest times of your life.
So, if you have constant dreams about airplanes crashing, you may be disappointed with yourself because you set the bar of expectations too high. This happens when you’re overambitious and set unattainable goals for yourself.
Being ambitious is a good thing. But having unrealistic expectations or targets in life only leads to disappointment.
The primary reason is that the goals you are setting are not in sync with your capabilities, so you’re bound to encounter several hurdles along the way as you try to achieve them.
The end result is nothing more than BURNOUT. Worse, you might even want to quit if you fixate too much on your unrealistic goals without thinking about the obstacles.
7. Falling in The Water
Do you have dreams of falling or being suspended in water? Well, it can have multiple connotations if you ask me.
You might be overwhelmed due to a great amount of emotional distress. However, on a positive note, it could even symbolize that you’re about to rediscover the hidden emotions trapped in you – something like a revelation!
Everything eventually boils down to the context of your dream. Let’s say if you get frequent dreams of drowning in water; it signifies that you may be under a lot of stress and your life is out of control, slipping away from you.
You May Also Read: 13 Common Dream Symbols and Their Meanings
How The Interpretations of Falling in Your Dreams Differ for Different Cultures or Professions?
The innate fear of loss of grip over certain situations in your life remains the primary trigger of such dreams. However, the culture that you’ve grown up with also determines how you interpret your dreams.
If you’re a modern, business-oriented person dreaming of falling. It may symbolize that you’re stressed about business, finances, or your economic condition in general.
Whereas if you’re a countryside farmer who invests immense time and effort in agriculture, living close to nature. You’d perhaps dream about falling if you’re concerned about erratic weather, ecological risks, and uncertain climate patterns that can disrupt or impact your crops.
Bonus read: Have you been dreaming about you crying in your dreams more often? If so, you might want to know why. Let’s decode these 9 crying dreams together.
How can I Prevent Myself from Falling into Dreams and Nightmares?
It’s a dream, and you’re technically asleep when you have it. So, having control over your falling dreams or nightmares is difficult. However, if you frequently have falling dreams, it’s a clear indicator that your stress levels are through the roof and need to be controlled or managed effectively.
So, stress management could be your first step towards gradually putting a stop to such nightmares. It’s advisable to focus on making peace with your inner-self and deal with the major triggers of stress.
Sleep disorders can also lead you to have such dreams. So, it’s important to have a good night’s sleep of 7 to 8 hours, reduce your coffee consumption and relax or meditate more often.
If you feel things are going out of control, or you can’t manage your stress voluntarily. Take medical help, counseling sessions, or consult a doctor for your physical as well as mental well-being.
Here are some things you should incorporate into your daily life. Make it a habit. A major lifestyle change can work wonders for you.
- Exercise regularly
- Meditate, do yoga and breathing exercises
- Eat healthy food and drink lots of water
- Engage in activities that make you happy – singing, dancing, playing a musical instrument, etc.
- Spend quality time with people you trust the most
- Spend time with your pets if you’re an animal lover. Animals can be therapeutic.
- Stay positive and ditch negativity or negative people.
Read More: Awake or Still Dreaming?
Verdict
So, in closing, unraveling why you’ve been falling in your dreams is subjective and closely connected to your own personal lives or experiences.
9 out of 10 times, it’s connected to the wide range of emotions you experience when you’re awake. These emotions just find a way to get triggered in your dreams.
Every dream has a message. It’s an insight that’ll help you get to the root cause of your life problems and tie up loose ends. So, don’t stop looking!
Alfred Pennyworth once said – Why do we fall, sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.
So, we got to pick ourselves up and keep going, no matter what. In the end, it’ll all be fine.
Hope you found this article useful. I’ll be back with another interesting write-up soon. Ciao!
