Because life is short and its good to face your fears

So I’m afraid of heights. I have been since forever. I used to let it stop me from doing things, like riding on the roller coasters at Valleyfair, but now I don’t. When I was maybe ten or eleven, my older cousins came to visit and tried desperately to get me to join them on the Corkscrew with them. To me, that was even worse than the tall coaster- it turned completely upside down. They were not successful in their efforts to convince me, so instead I spent the entire day with my aunt riding on the ‘safe rides’ like the tilt- a-whirl and bumper cars.  I hated that feeling of letting the fear win.

A few years later when I went back to Valleyfair, I just decided I was going to ride on every single ride. Starting with the corkscrew. As I was standing in that line, I was terrified. I actually thought I might die from the fear. I wanted to scream, just sitting there, looking at the first big hill in front of me. But I didn’t. And off it went.  It was over quickly. And I didn’t die. In fact, I was thrilled! I rode it three more times right in a row. Then I went on every other single ride at the Fair. Including all the rollercoasters. And I learned that fear probably isn’t going to kill us, so if something is really important to you, you gotta go for it. And also, I’m still afraid. Every time they strap me in. But I haven’t let it stop me. In fact, my favorite ride is the Power Tower (which feels like it drops you from a million feet high). I’ve even gone parasailing in Mexico. Where it was just a glorifed balloon, a rope, and boat.

Which brings me to today. A gorgeous fall day, leaves in full color, warm but not hot out.  I decided I wanted to go hiking on the bluffs overlooking the St. Croix River. My favorite place near the Twin Cities is the River Bluff Trail on the Wisconsin side of Interstate State Park. You actually climb up and down rocks instead of just a woodchip trail, parts of it are steep, and there are many places where you can walk right up to the edge of the cliff, sit on a rock, and hang your feet over the edge. It’s a safe trail if you don’t do anything stupid, and its well-populated this time of year, so I didn’t worry about getting lost or anything, even though I decided to go alone. (Yes, I have gotten lost when hiking alone in the woods before, but that’s another story). Today, it was perfect and fun and beautiful. And I pushed myself to go sit on an overhanging rock to and to swing my feet over the edge more than once, and I took lots of pictures to remind myself of the rewards of facing my fears...