Acrophobia: Fear of heights

This week I was planning to focus on conquering one of my own fears—heights. There’s a little park near my house, Roger’s Bridge Park, with an old oil pipe that crosses the Chattahoochee river. It’s wide,  has rails on each side, most parts are rusted, and has clearly been there for years. To me, this bridge screams death trap. To everyone else I know, it screams BA.For some reason, when there’s nothing to do in the afternoon, we always end up here. I make it a few feet out and then sit down on the pipe, clinging for dear life.

Enter Noah Hoback—Mr. Adventurous. We’ve been going to this park for over a year, most afternoons, just to sit and talk. He runs- yes, RUNS-  back and forth across the pipe while I sit and complain relentlessly about how dangerous it is.

Well, this past Saturday, February 12, 2011, I, Katharine Jane Barth, decided to cross the bridge. Noah and I pull into the park, my camera in hand. I was determined to have him videotape me crossing the bridge and facing my fear of heights. Also, my shrieking and possible cussing would fulfill my sound clip requirement.

Unfortunately, my grand plan was squashed. Roger’s Bridge Park has been transformed into “Chattapoochie” (Get it? It’s punny. A dog park on the Chattahoochee!), and the bridge has been blocked off.  But I will say, the fact that I went to the park even intending to make it more than 12 steps out is a HUGE deal. So until I find another  bridge, or some other death trap that’s high up and I deem relatively safe enough to test out my newfound courage, this post will remain unfinished.

I will, however, post a sound clip. This is a video of someone else conquering my fear. And that someone is a dog. Named Mindy. Mindy the skydiving dog is awesome.

Last week, Whitney inspired me to add something new to my posts to make them more interesting. This would be me attempting to skydive: I cry a lot and hate heights.

Also, the lovely Laura Bolling from my first post about fear (the fear of public speaking), gave me a little gift this week to remind me to face my fear. It’s a candy wrapper! Yes, a candy wrapper. From Dove chocolate. Which happens to be my favorite. For those of you who don’t know, Dove always puts inspiring sayings inside the candy wrapper. This one said “Be fearless”. It couldn’t be more perfect! So now I carry it in my wallet, as a little reminder to be fearless.

See you guys next week. Stay awesome.