I once saw an insightful tweet that read “I’m not afraid of heights, I’m afraid of falling.”
This is pretty much sums up my fear of heights. Every time I’m on a high peak, there’s always that distinct realization in the back of my mind that I could fall…something that would not be pleasant and would likely be fatal.
I’ve pretty much had this fear for as long as I can remember. From the time I was a little girl, I’ve always been a tad wary of walking too close to the edge on the second story of the local mall. Even though there’s fairly tall railing, I somehow manage to come up with the worst possible scenarios where that wouldn’t be of help. What if someone violently bumps into me? Or what if I loose my balance and somehow flip over it? Crazy, I know, but this is a peak into the inside of my very OCD brain…
This is also the reason that I’ve never been on a roller coaster. I came very close when I was at Disney World with friends at age thirteen, but I backed out at the last second. Going rapidly upside-down and side-to-side about fifty feet off the ground? The nightmare of anyone afraid of heights! And, I pretty much panicked when I walked up to the top of a lighthouse on a family vacation. The wind blew fiercely and I was convinced that it was going to knock me right over the side (Yes, there were ropes, but that isn’t a convincing argument to my brain)!
Nonetheless, I would like to conquer this fear…at least a little bit. My best friend and I both mentioned riding a roller coaster together someday, conquering our united fear of those death machines! I don’t know when this will be, as I rarely go to theme parks, but I plan to ride one someday! I’ll be sure to update y’all when it happens. Until then, the lighthouse and the second story of the mall continue to be my most impressive feat of facing my fear of heights.
1 Timothy 4:12 Girl 