Metaphor or Symbol?

Lately I've been plagued with anxiety over job security issues. This began eight months ago, and has worsened as the ugly situation grinds along. It has become a major preoccupation. Perhaps that's why I had the following dream.

I was trying to climb out of a deep hole. I was wearing business attire, including suit and tie. The way out was clear, and the surface just out of reach. People stood above me, peering down, watching my struggle. But I wasn't strong enough to pull myself out of this cursed hole. I couldn't do it myself, and nobody would help.

Is this a metaphor? Or is it a symbol? Setting aside academic distinctions over the difference between a metaphor and a symbol, what does it all mean?

It's my belief that during sleep, higher brain functions are shut down for maintenance. With the governor -- the rational mind -- at rest, thoughts are free to run wild. We know these unhindered thoughts as dreams. Brain cells fire away unhindered by logical thought or notions of proper behavior. This is when we may confront the things we cannot bear to think about when awake. Or we simply dream nonsense.