October 19th, 2020

Conquering Fear: Heights Addition

I began developing a fear of heights around the time that I was in high school. I remember one specific moment being on one of the highest floors of the Prudential Center in Boston and when trying to look out a window at something below, I slowly fell head first into the window and felt like I was falling through. After that moment, the fear of heights increased rapidly. I have difficulty being on the second story of a mall and near the railing that overlooks the first floor. I also experience this odd sensation when I am high up where I accidentally launch myself in the direction of falling off whatever I am on....what is that?!?! When I look up from the street at a tall building, I often lose my balance and my palms always sweat.

Through the years, I have tried to be more comfortable with heights. Indoor rock climbing was a big help, though it's been a long time now since I last climbed. After being inspired by my work where we have zip lines and high ropes courses that elementary children use (yes, I work at an AMAZING place), I decided to go on a zip lining adventure myself. It was essentially zip lining for beginners and lasted a short time - had to get my feet wet first because I didn't know how I would react - and it was....awesome! I had so much fun and I allowed the fun I was having to fill my head with positivity instead of thinking about all sorts of things going wrong while on the zip line.

So lesson learned: sometimes you just need to go, even when you aren't ready :)