When we photographed the Angel on My Shoulder Teen Camp a couple of weeks ago I jumped on the opportunity to climb a tree, get clamped to a zipline and zoom over everyone's heads. Dennis held both cameras and documented the event. Look how high up I am!
I was scared, but I tried to not think about the fear. I simply thought about "hand, hand, foot, foot. . .hand, hand, foot, foot. . ." Midway up I stopped momentarily to look around and the fear of heights started setting so I turned quickly back the tree and thought, "hand, hand, foot, foot. . ."
I was 100% secure, if I had fallen the rope would have caught me. But I'm pretty proud of the fact that I scurried up that tree (in Crocs!) faster than anyone else. It took me, literally, less than 1 minute!
The hardest part of the climb was getting over the wood supports for the platform and getting my rear up on the platform. The lady at the top helped pull me up by my "handle". Then she secured me to the tree while we waited for the line. When we got the line, she attached it to me and I was ready to go.
While setting up there the fear struck again - see my Crocs? - and I told myself to breath, reminded myself I was safe and I was already at the top - the quickest way down was to slide. I asked the lady if I could hold onto the rope and she said yes. . .
So, I fell forward and off I zipped! Woo-hoo!
It may not be bungee-jumping but I stepped out and did something different. When's the last time you stepped out, overcame your fear and plunged ahead?
