Healthy Respect

Heights seems like a reasonable, rational thing to be afraid of. The height itself can't hurt you, but, thousands of years of human experience has taught mankind the consequences of falling from a very high place. Jelly. As a species, we've done well to avoid being jellied. Stepped away from ledges. Built guard rails. Invented parachutes. As a collective, we recognize that heights are to be feared. Yeah for survival!

So, you could say that my fear of heights is actually helping me. "Thanks brain!" It's a good thing to shake, to have my mind shut down, and my palms sweat. To, in essence, become very awkward.

Actually heights is a pretty safe fear to have. How often am I faced with having to climb a tall ladder (I'm not a roofer), dangle from buildings (I'm not a window washer), or jump out of airplanes (I'm not a Flying Elvis).

I get to have my fear, but not live in fear that at any moment I may be confronted by a rickety wooden suspension bridge that needs crossing.

Comfortable.

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Enter two factors into my comfortably fearful world.

One. A friend bent on seeing me jump from an airplane.

Image from SkyDiveAZ.com

Two. Several accounts I've come across recently of what people have accomplished when mastering fears.

Image from thePhotographyPost.com

Darn it! That second one might have a point. Fear bleeds into other aspects of life. Getting too comfortable in our circumstances instead of reaching for something more difficult and more rewarding: fear of failure. Interacting with others like we deserve less than we do: fear of disapproval. Missing out on amazing experiences: fear of getting hurt.

Fear sucks!

My friend, the Factor One, even went as far as devise a training schedule that would get me from awkward to sky-diving:
1-Water Slides
2-Something
3-Something
4-Slingshot ride
5-Sky Dive

That's a direct quote.

Mostly, the plan involves amusement parks. There may be ulterior motives at work.

However, it was my friend who asked me, "Do you want to be afraid?"

Factor One asked me the question.

Factor Two got me to ask myself the same question. Look what all these other people did. Why not me too?

All this doesn't mean that I'm running off to find the first plane to jump out of. It means that I plan on facing more fears as they come along. The little ones can build up to the big ones.

My first little fear: I ate a scorpion lollipop. It tasted bitter, and the candy wasn't all that good, but, it was something I tried to avoid when given to me because of fear. So. I ate it.

Before

After

And, I'm devising a new plan of action. One that involves... Trapeze lessons!


Luckily I have a trapeze school in my same metropolitan area: Trapeze U.

How awesome does that look?

It's still a bit too far of a leap (pun intended) for me right now, however. I don't feel ready to drive out to Gilbert, climb up to the platform, and leap toward Hans, the inevitably burly teacher I imagine to be there, who's waiting to catch me.

But, don't worry Hans. I'm coming.