Yes, I admit it…I was scared of heights! There were certain heights I feared and I had no clue how I developed it. But one thing I knew for sure was that someday I would overcome this fear. I didn’t have a certain plan in mind but I knew I would stare this fear right in the eye and conquer it at the right time.

It happened last weekend (Labour Day). I went to Whistler with a friend and decided to try Ziptreking before we headed back to Vancouver.

It was all fun and games until they drove us up to the rainforest where the zip lines (4 of them) were set up high above Fitzsimmons Creek. We had to pass over a small suspension bridge onto a platform, which lead to the stairs to destination “FREAK-OUT”!

The shakiness of the bridge began to set the fear in me but I kept calming myself down saying, “it’s ok, you’re ok, you can do this”. It was not until we went down the stairs and our guide was hooking me up to the lines that I felt my throat tightening, stomach cramping, palms sweating, knees shaking and my heart pounding right out of my chest!! I stepped on the last step and looked down (word of advice: DO NOT LOOK DOWN!) and turned to our guide and said: “Can you call a helicopter to come and get me”?! He laughed, thinking I was joking, and said, “Ok, ready….GO”. I just knew if I thought about it for one more second I would start crying and that would be so embarrassing! So I jumped with my eyes open and didn’t look around much on the first round. I just wanted to get to the other side.

Once I got there and the other guide unhooked me, I wobbled down the stairs, my hands were shaking like a paint mixer, and I kept saying, “I did it, I did it, YAY”! Then of course, I realized there are 3 more to overcome! Fear set in again and before I knew it I was back in the hot seat.

As we went through the second and third round the fear was slowly fading and I was enjoying the ride more and more, looking around and below while I was flying through mid air, on a string of course!

For the fourth round we had a choice of going backwards and upside down. Not only I flipped upside down, I pulled a 180 split with a few seconds of hands free for showing off purposes!

When it was all done, I was ready to go for a couple of more rounds.

I am free. I am free of that ol’ fear of heights. What’s next? I don’t know but for now, I’ll just brag about this one!