In my dream I was on a plane, and my dad was there. (He’s deceased.) He was smiling. The plane was trying to take off, but I kept thinking it was going to crash because the pilot was too low. He was flying over this huge body of water that was full of people who were playing in the waves. But the waves were man-made, like the kind you see in a water park, and there were invisible slides under the water. The pilot seemed to follow the flow of the water as if on a roller coaster.

Just as the plane gained some height and I thought ok, it’s gonna be ok, we all fell out of the plane, as if we were on a trolley—with no real walls or windows. We weren’t hurt. We just sat on a big, decorative boulder that was lying in the park, and one of the waiters brought us a drink. I was concerned that I had lost my purse.

As for my personal life: My father passed away 7 years ago. I do miss him, and initially managing my feelings regarding his death was difficult. I have come to terms with it though. I do think of him often, however it does not weigh heavily on my mind. I’ve also recently lost my job, and I am feeling a little insecure with today’s climate in the workplace.

I have had several of these wild plane ride dreams recently. Can you tell me what they mean?

—Anonymous, Female, Age 38, Single, USA

Hi Anonymous—

It’s never fun when the plane you are riding on begins to feel like a roller coaster!

Airplanes in waking life are associated with big trips and travel to exotic, faraway destinations. Airplanes in dreams, accordingly, are associated with big goals in our lives—usually related to our careers. Will our career ever “get off the ground,” “take flight,” and “rise to a new level?” Will we ever achieve the “elevated” social status that we envision for our selves?

Because you recently lost your job, the stress of unemployment naturally is weighing upon you. The difficulty that your plane has gaining altitude represents doubts you hold about “overcoming” current obstacles. The roller coaster ride lets us know you have been experiencing “ups and downs” recently, and “waves of emotion” as you hold on during an emotionally turbulent period. The presence of your father indicates his influence upon your thinking (you wonder how he would think you are progressing) and also may reflect the continuing emotions that you experience in conjunction with his passing.

As this dream ends, you are concerned that you may have lost your purse. Purses in dreams hold associations to identity and power (because we carry our identification and money inside them). What’s the meaning? Your recent job loss has made you question your identity, and is beginning to cause feelings of powerlessness.

The message of “plane crash” dreams always is the same. It’s time to rescue your self from feelings of being in a “free fall” by taking concrete steps to reassert your goals and values. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Your nervous plane ride dreams show you are anxious to get back on course.