Fears or limitations

I’m not going to lie I’m not a very big fan of  bridges or heights. In the past I’ve refused parasailing and zip lining because of my so called fears of heights and ‘unsecure’ bridges but I have always had it in me to conquer my fears and yes it challenging but once you put your mind to it you become addicted similarly I thought I would be scared of sharks and probably pee myself when the great predictor came near me but once I came close to the great predator I couldn’t imagine a dive without that much adrenaline.

Earlier this year I told myself that I wanted to see Johannesburg from the birds eyes view ... but not as a viewer but rather as a jumper cliche right but its not about getting over your fear but rather adapting yourself to a new world, new adventure and possible a new hobby. I was never a height kinda girl I was a depth kinda girl but after facing my fear and not allowing it to determine my limitations I can successfully say that I have conquered one of my biggest fears. I am not saying that it is possible to conquer all our fears, we are only human after all and I am pretty sure it is apart of life to have fears instilled within us some more bearable than others but it is not impossible to grow out of a fear or conquer a fear. 

It was June 29th the day after my birthday when I received an email with a gift voucher to jump Orlando towers and at first I thought to myself someone is listening to me and i better watch out what i say next because I could find myself with a snake resting on my shoulders or a spider climbing my arm. I knew that it would take a few month to psych myself up but till today I don’t regret one bit of it. When I finally decided to jump one week prior to the jump with my adrenaline levels pumping high and my mind in to overdrive i found myself overthinking about what I was about to do? I asked myself if it was for content or to have “balls’’

Sunday, the 1st of September 2019, 9am I find myself about to do some “crazy shit” as my granny would phrase it. My palms sweaty and a urge to pee I found myself strapped into a harness in this cage like elevator lifting of the ground telling myself not to look down as it moves with the curves of the towers when suddenly it comes to a halt and the guide says “jumpers first” up the steepest stair case I’ve ever come across about 90m of the ground i could help to stop and wonder if this was actually something I wanted to do with the memory of my dads words the previous night “its up to you to conquer your fears” mixed with my grannies words of “I don’t know what happened to you, the only daring grandchild” with these thoughts accumulating I made it up the stairwell with the view of the horizon of Johannesburg the city of gold. The view was just simply perfect. 

After 10 minutes of great admiration towards the view the guide asked me the cross the bridge to meet the launch team in the middle on the not so secure bridge, the first test in conquering my fear. To my surprise i made it across the bridge to the launch pad without a tear in preparation to complete part two of conquering my fear of heights. Once i was strapped up to the bungee cord the launch team helped me to the end of the platform counting my down 3...2...1 and suddenly I found my stomach filled with butterflies and my adrenaline pumping as a plummeted down the 100 m jump to which i have conquered my fear of bridges and heights. 

I did not only find bungee jumping to eliminate my fear but rather find me craving the adrenaline of a bungee jump for my next bucket list jump would be the Bloukrans bridge bungee of 216m.