I don’t care much for heights. I’ve climbed Pinnacle Mountain a few times and I’ve never enjoyed it. I love to see my friends take pictures with their loved ones after they have climbed to the top, but I’ve always been too nervous. A few months ago I had the opportunity to fly in a C-130, also known as a Blackhawk jet, and while it was thrilling and beautiful from that vantage point, I sat perfectly still and smiled while others were snapping pictures and videos.
When my friend Lott declared that he wanted to climb Dunn’s River Falls in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, for his 50th birthday, I went along despite my inner turmoil. Besides, how bad could it be? If you’ve never heard of it, it’s one of the most popular attractions in the Caribbean. You can either climb through the falls or walk alongside it on dry land. Twenty three years ago on our honeymoon cruise, G and I traveled there and saw people holding hands while they climbed. At the time, we couldn’t afford to pay for the excursion and saved a couple hundred bucks and paid a taxi driver to take us there instead. We walked a bit of the trail and were happy to have seen what all the fuss was about.
I didn’t do much research to remind myself just what I was getting myself into; my friend said he wanted to go, so I threw caution to the wind. Plus, this climb was the only thing standing between me and rum punch and the Jamaican meat pie on the “booze cruise” on the way back.
We were told that the entire climb was 900 plus feet, but a Google search states that it is 180 feet high and 600 feet long.
Okay.
No matter the distance I said to myself, “No big deal. I’ve got my people with me.”
Okay. Off we went.
Our excursion included a guide, who told us where to step and reminded us to be careful. I was between Lott and Greg, and soon after I realized that G could handle himself, I held onto Lott’s hand for dear life. Not because I couldn’t physically handle it mind you; my nerves were increasingly getting the best of me. I didn’t stop to look to see how beautiful the falls looked as I climbed. I kept looking forward, but not too far up for fear that I would decide to take the steps down and wait for everyone to finish going all the way to the top.
We all congratulated ourselves for finishing. There were no “happy” pics of me as I climbed, so for visual interest I decided to share this photo of the four of us before we really got started. You can see the falls behind us.
For me, I’m not sure if I would have been as physically able to climb 23 years ago but at the same I don’t think that I would have thought twice about climbing back then because I took more chances. I also can’t ride the Tilt-a-Whirl at the state fair like I used to so there’s that. I eventually made it, one step at a time. It didn’t come without a good dose of positive self-talk though. These are my takeaways:
- What a blessing it is to have the activity of my limbs
- How awesome to have friends that you will blindly do things for despite being terrified
- There’s a reason why we should expose kids to different things so that they don’t grow up feeling afraid to take risks
- My husband didn’t mind me leaving him for another guy temporarily
- It’s never too late to conquer your fears. As far as I’m concerned, Dunn’s River Falls was as tall as Mount Everest.
Last thought: life comes at us fast and we must approach it one day at a time, one step at a time.
#ksmithsays
ksmithsays 