Credit to Drew Johnson & Chase Pray

I’ve never been the bravest person. I would actually say the complete opposite. I was the kid who was scared of practically everything. Thunder, darkness, needles, bees, public speaking, you name it and I probably had some fear of it. However, apart from everything else, heights were one of the worst. 

It all started back in the summer of 2021 when my dad suggested that he wanted to do a family vacation to Tennessee. Of course, I was all for that because I loved getting to see new places and experience new things, but there was one little problem, one of the activities he wanted to plan was ziplining.

When I first heard this, anxiety immediately rushed through my body. Ziplining? Really? Who would want to put their entire life in the hands of a wire strung across a ravine? Turns out, it would be me. I knew that this would be an experience that I would regret not doing in the future, so I temporarily put my fear aside and agreed.

During the couple of months leading up to the trip, fear started to creep back into my mind. What if the line snaps and I fall to my death? What if I get stuck in the middle of the line, and can’t make it to the other side? What if parts of my gear are too loose and I fall? These kinds of questions haunted me for the entire ride there to the moment I was strapped into my ziplining gear and walking up to the top of the platform.

At the top, I looked across the large chasm filled with trees and then to the thin silver line that I would be trusting my entire life with. At this point, I was already shaking and my eyes were welling up with tears because the questions about certain death were racing through my mind faster than before. But my turn was up next. There was no backing out now. 

I was swiftly hooked up to the line and on the count of three, I took a step into the oblivion below.

It felt like flying. A little cliche, I know, but it’s true. I loved the feeling of the adrenaline that pulsed through my veins and the freedom of being suspended mid-air. There was really nothing like it. 

I arrived at the other side of the line grinning ear to ear and shook off the rest of my nerves. Knowing that I conquered my fear was nice and all, but more importantly, I found something that I would love doing over and over again.