lemme out -- wait, i'm still alive???

I had a dream last night that a group of girls and I were doing this crazy caving/rock climbing adventure in a tropical area that had formerly been inhabited (by people who were not afraid of heights, obviously, and potentially had prehensile tails) but whose structures and passageways had fallen into a dangerous state of disrepair. To complicate matters, waves of various strength often rolled through the rocky, moss-grown tunnels connecting various parts of the settlements, obligating one to grasp at anything solid and hold one's breath until they passed. There were also raised concrete walkways on one side of the river cliff, and besides being unfinished and marked off with caution tape, they were also crumbling to pieces and had no railings. Even with our belay equipment, which we used exceedingly rarely, all the passages were treacherous. Then there was a portion requiring us to jump off the cliff and land in the water, oh, 200 feet or so below, and swim through the current to the edge of the rocky cavern so we could climb out. The first of our group -- one of the only men -- was drawn under by the current and presumably drowned, which was not encouraging. We found out later that he had indeed drowned and that his spirit was endeavoring to ensure we shared his fate. It was understood that a long time would pass before anyone else came through the passage, so he was taking full advantage of the opportunity to snare some company.

I'm not normally afraid of heights, just warily respectful. But I often experience a disturbingly reduced gravity in my dreams (which sometimes allows me to transition into lucid dreaming, but more often just raises high anxiety and disbelief at the acrobatics required to enact simple ambulation). Dreamgravity encourages falling and does not lessen the impact, but does not provide solid anchoring to the earth...unless the earth in question is slippery, crumbling, and unsteady, in which case I am almost certainly too massive to pass over it unscathed. Soooo...whereas my companions didn't seem to have much difficulty navigating the terrain and exhibited a commensurate amount of confidence, I was pretty much terrified the whole time, and certain I was about to fall to my death.

I'm drawing a parallel to the job market. What seems to take very little effort and create very little risk for others is treacherous and life-sucking in my little dominion. Plus, the ground is crumbling and there are active attempts to drown me. Awesome and encouraging.