How I Overcame My Fear of Heights

I recently read a list of people's biggest fears. The number one fear of most people was speaking in public. Since I've been "on stage" most of my life one way or the other, I didn't relate much to speaking in public, but number three was one that I identified with very quickly. I have a fear of heights.

The first time I realized this was on a vacation with my grandparents. I was about eleven years old, and we were on the Gulf of Mexico staying at this beautiful hotel called the Sun and Sand. The hotel had buildings on both sides of Highway 90 connected by an open walkway over the highway. As I bounded up the stairs and started across, I suddenly froze in the middle as I realized I was high above the ground with very little between me and open sky. My poor confused granddad had to come and get me. After that, just the idea of being up high has given me chills.

The first time my hubby decided we needed to take our children on vacation, we decided on the Smoky Mountains. My palms started to sweat in my living room, just the thought of those up and down highways and overlooks. Surely I could do this. After all, I was a grown woman who had been through childbirth. How much harder could this be?

Fortunately, it was during the summer and many of the dropoffs were covered with trees and bushes. I was feeling very confident now, and even went so far as to look down occasionally, from the car that is. And then we stopped at the first overlook. My family bounded toward the rock wall as I inched slowly closer and closer. About four foot back, I looked out over the wall and there below I made out a very small house. That did it. Luke and Bo Duke couldn't get in their orange car quicker than I made it back into our Pontiac. No more overlooks for me.

I sat and waited as my crew went through Rock City and slid down Raccoon Mountain. I watched as they took off on the ski lift up the mountain to Ghost City in Maggie Valley, while I risked my life riding with some 16 year-old up the curvy road to the top. I finally realized this won't do.

So how did I overcome this horrible fear? After reading a magazine article that said you could overcome fears such as heights by broaching them slowly. It also said if you get bothered by each little step, you should stop and not put pressure on yourself. This article assured me that over time, I would be able to overcome my fear and climb any mountain, so to speak.

I started with climbing onto a chair to change a lightbulb. Big mistake. I definitely felt pressure trying to detach the light fixture with one hand while hanging onto the back of the chair with the other hand. As the screws loosened, I began to panic, and thought forget this, I'll just leave this for the man of the house. So for the rest of the day, not only was I afraid of heights, I was scared the light fixture would fall on my head.

Okay, I thought, let me try something else. I got out the little stepladder, you know, the one that only has about four steps on it. I set it up and started up. First step, hey, this isn't so bad. Second step, my head started spinning. Third step, I was curled completely over onto the other side of the ladder. I gave up.

But I have to give credit to my hubby, he wouldn't give up on me. We started making short weekend trips into the mountains, the Ozarks in Arkansas, which weren't quite as high and before long, with baby steps, I finally mastered getting out of the car at the overlooks. I'm still not crazy about heights but I have actually driven some of the highways on recent trips.

We were attending my hubby's Blackhorse reunion in Colorado Springs a couple of years ago when my hubby suggested driving to the top of Pike's Peak. Why not, I thought, I've pretty much got this height thing licked. I did fairly well until we got above the tree line and onto the gravel road. As we zig-zagged our way up to the top, I crept a little lower in the seat. By the time we finally reached the top, my hubby leaped from the car to go see the view. Since I had been drinking water all the way to ward off altitude sickness, I crawled out of the floorboard and ran to the little building. I squinted my eyes to ward off seeing the miles and miles of openness in every direction, I finally got myself back into the car. Thankfully, my husband decided to go back down, and I thought to myself I did it. I was so proud of myself, and I even peeked out a couple of times going back down.

Yes, I had done it. I had gone up Pike's Peak, something I never would have done before. There's nothing like setting a goal for yourself and accomplishing it. Now, if I can just conquer that second step on that stupid ladder.