Learn trust in your gear, your partner and most of all yourself. Lets climb!!

For most of my life I have believed that I am afraid of heights. I say believed because heights are not scary, perception of the height is what makes it scary. Its in my head. 
Now in reality I am not equipped to head to some heights (of course I cant fly) but also I am lacking in technical skill and strength it would take to reach some really very high places under my own man power. But mostly I can get myself a lot higher than flat ground but being high has always seemed terrifying. 
What I realized as a child, I see now, is that if I cried hard enough I was coddled and allowed to not participate. As a teen people just didn't want to deal with it. And as an adult you really have to ask to go or take yourself (people mostly do not invite you to join hobbies without at least some show of interest) So with all of that combined I have been able to stay ground floor. But the longer I stayed ground floor the more I convinced myself that high was scary, that I was scared, that I would never be there....its too scary. SO when I one day decide to go a little high, or for some reason I am unexpectedly, then I panic.
Here is the reality: Fear can be useful. Panic is not. 
Panic is what gets you into trouble. OR makes trouble a lot worse. 
Fear is mostly based in the unknown and can many times be put at bay by exposure. So how do you deal with a fear of heights? Avoidance actually made it worse. SO!!!! Exposure Therapy. 
It took me a few years, a few cliffs, a few bridges but these days it takes a lot more to scare me. And when I am spooked it takes a lot more to make me panic. 
Proof. 
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