Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Higher than I am ready for

I discovered something last night as I was lying in bed. I am not afraid of heights, as I always thought. Come to it, I like heights. I like roller coasters, ferris wheels, hiking, repelling, rock climbing and any other form of getting as high up as possible.

I am afraid of falling.

This may not sound like much difference, but to me it is huge. If I can overcome my fear of dropping from a high place [which, lets face it, isnt likely to happen] I can make all sorts of progress. And do a lot more fun stuff.

When I was younger I used to have a dream, that falling dream, you know? But in it Iwas walking across a fallen tree over a canyon. I would fall halfway across and then, as I was falling, I would loop, sort of. I would fall from the sky back on to the branch I was walking on and I would start all over.

I can see now it was talking about me not being able to change my situation, or my frustration with it. How I felt helpless and trapped.

But then I thought it was me being afraid of heights.

Well. Interesting discovery, isn't it?

What are you afraid of?

In case you are interested, the picture I selected is the sun setting from the top of a bluff on my favorite river to canoe. Its called Goat Bluff and it is the highest place on the river, if you turn the right direction you can see for miles and miles on the river. Its a strenuous hike, but gorgeous.

5 comments:

shorty said...

I'm afraid of heights.

Never having someone fall IN love w/ me again.

Never getting to say all the things I want/need to say to the people I love/hate.

Succeeding.

Failure.

Being assaulted, physically.

Being pulled under by the undertoe or a shark in the ocean.

I'll keep thinking, I'm sure there are more...lots more.

Aravis said...

Great photo!

As for falling, my husband always says the fall isn't so bad, it's the sudden stop that gets you every time. *G*

Fears? Let's see. Rats always come to mind first. Loss of a loved one. Shorty's mention of failing and succeeding resonated.

I'll leave room on the List of Fears for others to add on to...

HistoryGeek said...

Fire...being burned, specifically, or dying in a fire. That's the most irrational one (it causes me to occasionally rush back into the house to make sure I've turned off the coffee pot).

Charby said...

People frighten me, I like them but seem to get jerked about by them and find it hard to trust them.

Dying scares me intensely too, I used to have loads of panic attacks about it as a child.

Rollercoasters are scary, I get frightened on simulator ones.

And tomatoes, they are sinisterly horrible

Aravis said...

Yes to tomatoes! They're just evil...