As we arrived at the ropes course in Altai for our 8th grade Discovery Week trip, it was boiling like a polar bear in the hot sun. I could feel myself melting through the two pairs of thick, black legging and my two fleece pullovers. It was a little underwhelming because the ropes course was small/short and it wasn’t very high off the ground and ended in a zip-line that forced you to suddenly stop. After a long wait, my turn finally arrived, I was so eager, thrilled, and anxious to, after for what felt like days of waiting, get my chance on the course. I was so excited but at the same time, I was so frightened and jittery by the fact that I was deathly afraid of heights. I got so caught up in the excitement of cheering for my friends and watching them fly through the course that I forgot, for a split second, that I was was afraid, horrified if you will. “Ohhh boy...here goes *gulps* everything” I muttered to myself as I ascended that steep ladder. I soared like an eagle in the sky, blazing through those first few obstacles like it was nothing.
 
Sweat started pouring down my face as it came to the obstacle that I have been dreading the most... that thin cable with flimsy ropes at the sides for “support”. “I can’t do this I can’t do this” I kept telling myself as I looked down that long cable trying to figure out how to unhook and rehook my safety clip. After that was done, I just stood there staring at that cable like it was a wild animal waiting to attack. I placed one foot down on the cable.. I was horrified trying to make myself not look down but I had to, to see if my footing was right. Fear took over when I took my second step, my legs started to shake and the cable became unsteady, but I kept going. I was on that cable for what felt like years, and I wasn't even halfway there. The cable was violently shaking which made it impossible to get my footing right. I held on to those flimsy ropes but that didn't help at all; the only thing they were good for was not falling, which is pretty helpful I guess. I took deep breaths and stopped for a moment to see if I could calm down and it worked for about 3 seconds until I took another step. I was halfway-halfway to being off this death trap.

I started to believe in myself that I could make it to the end, but that didn't ease the fact that I was about to bawl my eyes out from fear. “I think I can I think I can, ” I thought to myself just like The Little Train That Could as he chugged up that mountain like hill. The cable was still shaking but I was almost there, but then it happened. The thing I've been fearing since I first step foot on that cable.. I fell. Clinging to those side ropes for dear life as my legs dangled off the side of the cable. Legs shaking; my heart is racing like it’s about to explode as I quickly use what little upper body strength I have to yank myself back onto the cable. At this point, I’m sweating buckets and I stand still on the wire. Alice, one of my friends that had already finished the course, saw me freaking out and heard me yelling “I can’t do this, I can’t I’m too afraid!” as she walked roughly to where I was, but underneath me and yelled back “Yes you can Jessie! I believe in you. I don’t care if you're afraid just keep going.” So I took what she said into consideration and I was either going to complain about how everything is ending or I could just suck it up and push forward (I decided to push forward of course). Step by step, I slowly but surely took that long treacherous journey to the end of that nightmare. As I leaped toward the wooden platform, I was so proud of myself because I did it. My legs still nervously shaking and my heart still racing. I could hear Alice screaming and shouting that she was so proud of me and I smiled and waved at her, hugging the tree and being overly ecstatic to be back on “solid” ground.

This experience changed me in ways that I could never imagine, I now see the world differently. The way this changes me was I learned that even though I was afraid I pushed myself and did it anyway. I’m afraid of a lot of things, spiders, clowns, heights especially, but if you keep living in that fear your not going to get anywhere in life. Take my fear of heights, for example, this experience taught me that no matter what I have to do to get something I’ll do it. I persevered to make my way through that cable, it took blood, sweat, and tears but I made it and I actually felt so proud of myself when I stepped onto that platform. My breath slowed, my shoulders slumped, and this rush of relief rushed through my body, like the kind you get when you take that first sip of coffee in the morning. On the outside, I was as cool as a cucumber and it seemed like nothing had just happened seconds before, but on the inside, I was still mortified as I looked back at that cable and thought to myself  “thank god that's over” as I gave a really big sigh of relief. I see the world differently now. I’m not AS afraid of heights as I was, but my new fear of cables says otherwise. I can mostly take challenges that people give me, but if it involves spiders, clowns, and or heights you can count me out, but that well beyond the point. Now, I see the world as if I’m looking through one of two windows. I could either look at the window on the left and see nothing my a wall and sit there and sulk about how afraid I am of everything and how I can’t do this or that or I would look through the window on the right, with a beautiful view of what there is to come. Opportunities and challenges I'm willing to face and take on. What I’m trying to say is don’t let your fears hold you back or else you’ll regret it in the future. Conquer your fears or they will conquer you.