The day I started working on conquering fear

“Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. That is near insanity. Do not misunderstand me danger is very real but fear is a choice.”
Will Smith

For as long as I can remember I have been afraid of heights.
I remember sitting in the back seat of my dads silver zephyr as we drove in the mountains.

Racing past sparkling white waterfalls we snaking our way thru the lush deep valleys and back up the steep rocky inclines.

My mother in the front seat quietly clutching the Arm rest between her and my dad.
panicked.
I vaguely remember her taking off her seatbelt and slipping down to sit on the floor when we were delayed on the way down a steep hill for construction our tent trailer behind us.
Brakes smoking in protest while we waited.
We could have been there five minutes or longer who knows but the impression stuck.

That fear rubbed off on me but manifests itself sometimes in strange ways.
I’m not a big fan of stairs or glass covered railings.
Escalators and elevators either.
I hate balcony seats to any event if it’s not right on the isle and away from the front row.

Yet I love to fly.

I have no issues with roller coasters unless one of my small children are sitting beside me then I am clutching them for dear life willing the mechanical straps to be effective.

They know I’m fearful and thankfully it hasn’t seemed to rub off on them.

I’m not sure if it’s the height that bothers me or the fear of falling from that height that’s the issue but I decided that this year on my birthday I was going to work on concurring that fear.

I wanted to do something that would allow me to safely face that fear so we went rock climbing.
Here are a few pictures from my first climb.

You want me to climb THAT?

Almost there….. (Heart racing and shaky knees)

Exhaustion! Pure exhaustion…but I made it to the top and did it over and over again just for the fun of it.

I’m in the middle with two of my closest girl friends who were more than thrilled to share this with me.

I’m sure it will probably take me a little longer to get over this but one small baby step at a time!

Have you ever faced your fears?
What are you afraid of?
Did you ever get over it?