Monday Motivation: Zip-lining!

This weekend I had the opportunity to step way outside of my comfort zone and I am happy that I did. Since my experience in Boston at the Boston Marathon 2013 I have been working hard to confront my fears rather than to run and hide. After the Boston Marathon in 2013 I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and spent a year meeting with a counselor to help me to overcome my PTSD and to be able to work through my fears. After Boston I was often in a heightened state of alert and let fear take hold of me in many different situations. I had begun to feel more and more stuck and filled with anxiety. Spending time in therapy helped me to work through many of these thoughts and feelings and gave me strategies for working through feelings of sadness and fear.

Part of this process was to challenge myself by doing activities where fear grips me and finding a way to work through it.. Last year I decided that it was time to overcome my fear of the climbing wall which includes a fear of heights. Today I took it a step further by taking my fear of heights to the Alpine Adventures Zipline Tour in Lincoln, New Hampshire. I

t was my friend Chantel’s birthday and she organized a group of ladies to go and zipline and celebrate. We had a group of 4 and 3 out of 4 of us have a fear of heights so I was in good company which helped to put me at ease.

We had a quick safety briefing before the tour began about proper body positioning and hand positioning and what to do when you got to the end of the line and just like that we were off. There was no time to second guess getting clipped onto the line and jumping of the platform high up in the tree. We did the Zipline Skyrider Tour that included 5 ziplines (200 feet over the forest floor, 5 suspension bridges, and the possibility of reaching speeds of up to 50 mph. Eek! Each zipline was a little different. Two of them were racing ziplines which means that there were two  side by side which was pretty cool! 3 of them departed from platforms high up in the trees (I think that this was actually scarier than the ziplines). Two of the ziplines started by walking or running and then you just started cruising. Out of all of the ziplines the first and the last were definitely the most fear inducing.

The first line was way up high in a tree and was side by side with another line. In order to go you got hooked in and then after a count of three you just had to step off and go. I was scared but it was easier to go because I knew that I had a friend right by my side who was stepping of the platform too. I screamed as I stepped off but then as I realized that I was safe and that the harness was holding me I began to feel at ease. By the time I reached the other side I felt exhilarated and was definitely feeling the adrenaline rush. I am starting to see some people are such thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies.

After the first one we all felt more at ease and ready to go as we headed to the next ones. It definitely helped to get the first one over with! Once I got going I began to have a lot of fun! The last one was challenging in a different way because you needed to lean back and basically fall from the platform. Going backwards and knowing that you would drop down made this seem a lot scarier. We went out to the platform across a suspension bridge and got onto the platform. The tree was swaying slightly which definitely made me feel uneasy. We were all feeling a bit nervous as we watched the group ahead of us go with trepidation. Westerly went before me and was pretty nervous but she did it which made me feel better. I asked the guide if he could count to three for me. He told me, “Sure!” As I leaned back in the harness the guide said, “One . . .!!!!!!!” and that was it, he let go and off I went, screaming on the way down! The adrenaline was crazy and once I got over the fear of the “fall” it was such fun!

We had such a great time zip-lining and it was such a fun way to celebrate Chantel’s birthday! We all agreed that even though most of us had been scared when we got started we all had a blast and would do it again. There is another tour called the Super Skyrider Tour which has 9 ziplines and taller and longer ziplines but at this point I am not sure I could handle it but we’ll see!

Have you ever done a Zipline tour? When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone? Share your latest Monday Motivation!

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