The Fall

This is a continuation of my most previous blog post, The Climb.

I found this dream most interesting because I remembered a dream that involved both my brother and dad and one of them falling off a tall structure with a horrible end result. However, I remembered this happening to my dad and not my brother. I stand corrected as I searched through my older posts when I found this post about when my brother fell from climbing and broke his back in half from landing on something with a sort of point directly to the middle of his spine. Definitely read the gory description of that post.

In reference to the more recent dream, I said he fell 3 times. The first two weren't so bad considering the distance he fell wasn't so high. However, it wasn't that we weren't worried at all. It was quite an intensely emotional and stressful dream. The third time he fell it was from a much higher level and he landed directly on his feet. He hit the ground on his feet and then instantly fell forward. From what we could see it looked like he broke one of his legs. Just as he fell, I screamed, screamed so loud. I screamed out his name. Hoping he could hear me and let me know if he was seriously hurt. He got up and fortunately did not break his leg. Realistically, he should have, it was a horrible sight.

I can see that part of me screaming from both first person and third person perspective. I can see me, and I can see him. It was very dramatic. And sad.

Both my dad and I jumped up and went to the edge of the balcony the second he started to fall. We were both so emotional.

I believe after his fall he took a break and came up to the building where we all were. Here I think he made some sort of announcement and I came up to him and gave him the biggest, tightest, longest hug of my entire life. I was crying. Everyone was watching. Again, this was some sort of tribute to him surviving his overdose and being sober. How appropriate since he got his 9 months sober 3 days ago.

This dream in conjunction with the older dream that I mentioned in the beginning of this post both share a major theme. My brother falling. I had that older dream almost exactly 2 years ago. Same time of the year...only 2 days apart.

Now, while trying to pick out interpretations on falling themes, they usually only involve the dreamer falling. Thus, I'm going to post the interpretations anyways and then try to make my own interpretation that applies to my brother.

To dream that you fall and are not frightened signifies that you will overcome your adversities with ease.
To dream that you fall and are frightened indicates a lack of control, insecurity, and/or lack of support in your waking life. You may be experiencing some major struggle and/or overwhelming problem. It may also imply that you have failed to achieve a goal that you have set forth for yourself.
To dream that you are free-falling through water indicates that you are feeling overwhelmed with emotions. You may feel that it is easier to give up, then to try to stay afloat or prevent yourself from going under.

And an elaboration on falling as a theme:
Falling dreams are another theme that is quite common in the world of dreams. Contrary to a popular myth, you will not actually die if you do not wake up before you hit the ground during a fall.

As with most common dream themes, falling is an indication of insecurities, instabilities, and anxieties. You are feeling overwhelmed and out of control in some situation in your waking life. This may reflect the way you feel in your relationship or in your work environment. You have lost your foothold and keep up with the hustle and bustle of daily life. When you fall, there is nothing that you can hold on to. You more or less are forced toward this downward motion without any control. This lost of control may parallel a waking situation in your life.


Falling dreams also often reflect a sense of failure or inferiority in some circumstance or situation. It may be the fear of failing in your job/school, loss of status, or failure in love. You feel shameful and a lost sense of self-esteem You are unable to keep up with the status quo and feel that you don't measure up.

According to Freudian theory, dreams of falling indicate that you are contemplating giving in to a sexual urge or impulse. You are lacking indiscretion.

Falling dreams typically occur during the first stage of sleep. Dreams in this stage are often accompanied by muscle spasms of the arms, legs, and the whole body. These sudden contractions are also known as myclonic jerks. When you sometimes have these falling dreams, you may feel your whole body jerk or twitch and actually awaken from this jerk. It is thought that this jerking action is part of an arousal mechanism that allows you to wake up quickly and be on the alert to possible threats in the environment.

According to biblical interpretations, dreams about falling have a negative overtone. It is believed that such dreams relate to how you are acting and walking, according to his own way of thinking and not those of the Lord.

Here's what it says about dreaming about your brother [if you do have a brother]: To see your brother in your dream symbolizes some aspect of your relationship with him. It can also serve to remind you that someone in your waking life has certain characteristics or behaviors similar to your brother.

The interesting thing about this is the time frame. 2 years ago when I had that other dream, my brother was still using drugs and drinking. We didn't have much of a relationship then. If we did, it was based off lies. As I said in that older post about the dream that my brother hurts himself all the time. That was true for that time. I can't tell you how many times he had accidentally cut himself really deep from knives, hit his head, fell of his bike, etc. Now that he's sober, none of that happens. It's actually quite amazing. But also another interesting difference between the dreams. The first dream involved him actually wounding himself in such a disgusting manner. In the new dream, he didn't get seriously hurt, he survived.

I will say, with the common meaning of failure and lack of control being mentioned with the dream theme of falling, that that is correct to some extent. I don't have a lot of control over my brother's life. He may be sober and he's doing an amazing job with that, but now we have his social issues, his serial dating issues that I've talked to him about on countless occasions including the recent talk we had yesterday. No matter what, I can't change him, teach him. I can only be there for him, listen, and keep saying the same things over and over again.

There's more to this, but something to be analyzed over time.