Leaps of Expectations

Well this was a rather intensely graphic and painful dream I had last night...  Try not to read too much into it.

You're alone.  The cold stone walls of the cave are dripping with condensation.  You balance on a thin stone outcropping extending from the wall.  Before you lay a series of similar ledges ahead, each separated by a nine foot gap.  Below you see nothing but darkness and stone walls.  You prepare to leap.  Every muscle in you body tenses.  Your face scrunches in determination and concentration.  You legs flex as you use the explosive power of your legs to launch you toward the ledge.  The moment you were in the air you knew it wasn't enough.  You ram hard into stone.  As you slide down the dark abyss the rough walls tear at your skin and grind through your skull.  Blood is dripping into your mouth.  You can taste the rusty taste of the life oozing from you.  Your vision goes white.  You're back on the same outcropping.  Your head is scarred.  The blood is gone. It no longer stains the cave.  The pain remains. You begin to size up the gap.  You know this is the only way out of the cave.  If you can't make this jump then you are worth nothing.  Tense... Concentrate... Explode... Fail.  The stone shreds your supple flesh.  Pain sears through your body.  Everything is white.  You're on the ledge.  Disappointment floods your soul.  You are nothing.  You have to keep trying. You must prove yourself.  Tense... Concentrate... Explode... Pain.  Intense pain.  Blood. Red. White.  You're alone. The cold stone walls of the cave are dripping with condensation.  You balance on a thin outcropping extending from the wall.  You see nothing but darkness and stone walls. You're alone. You are nothing.