I looked over the edge, staring down 400 feet far above the treeline.  It was the summer after fifth grade and I would soon be entering middle school.  I sat harnessed into the zipline with the hot Costa Rican sun beaming down on my shoulders.  I looked along the horizon, the end of the half mile-long zipline not even in sight.  Behind me was my two older brothers, mom, and dad.  While I sat there waiting for them to tell me to push off, I thought to myself ,“How on earth did I get myself into this position?”

I slowly woke up that morning, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, showered, and got dressed like any other day.  However, this morning was different than the others  As we left our hotel and got into our rental car, I felt butterflies start to build up in my stomach.  We took a five minute car ride through the rural section of Costa Rica until we entered the rain forests.  The nice scenery was almost lost due to the fact that my nerves prevented me from enjoying what was all around me.  The short car ride seemed to last for hours, as my anxiety built up.  We were escorted to to a small building where we were handed out the necessary items, such as a helmet, gloves, and the harnessing equipment.  We navigated through the rainforest around trees and plants, over to where the first zipline was. 

The energetic guide quickly went over all of the directions on how to stay safe on a zipline that could be dangerous if fooling around.  “How can he be so excited?  Even though he is just a guide he still has to go on the zipline.  How come I can’t be so calm and collected as he is right now?”

 
I stared at him trying my best to concentrate and take in every word that he was saying.  The last thing that I wanted was to miss some of his directions and not know what to do when I’m over the length of the football field above the ground.  We aligned ourselves into a neat line to wait for the zipline, where I found myself right in the middle.  I watched each person go by, inching forward to the platform.  My stomach turned and sweat began building up on my forehead in the humid environment. 

“Maybe I can go back now.  I really don’t want to do this and I might be able to make it back to the hotel.  Or I can just wait at the front for everybody else to finish,“ I thought, hoping that there would be another way.  However, I knew that I had to do it for myself and even though it might be the easy thing to step out, deep down I wanted to do it.  As each person went by, I came to a realization that I would have to do this no matter how frightened I was.

“Are you ready, you’re almost up,” my mom encouraged me noticing that I wasn’t too excited about going on the zipline.

“I guess I am.  Now that I’m going soon,” I responded unconfidently.  I looked along the thick, steel cable.  It spanned so far that I could not see the end of the platform, twisting around trees and branches.  It seemed to be staring at me, almost trying to intimidate me even more.  As seconds felt like minutes, I found myself next in line to go down the winding zipline.  Canopies from the trees around 200 feet below me blocked the view of the ground. 

As I took a deep breath, I clipped my harness in.  I took a moment to regain all my various thoughts and concerns before taking a big push off.  The guide gave me the signal, confirming that this was the moment where I would have to spring off and let go of the handle that I was grasping.  I looked once more at the zipline, staring it straight on before jumping off the platform.  Once I was off, my butterflies immediately disappeared from my stomach.  The warm air rushed past my face as I was zooming down the zipline.  Winding around trees, passing all kinds of colorful birds, and monkeys, I was finally able to relax and enjoy everything around me.  I looked down below me, but did not feel the same nerves as I did when waiting in line.  Everything around me was green from the leaves on the trees to the birds flying in the air all around me.  As I reached the platform, a smile emerged on my face and the guide caught me so that I would not slam into the tree full speed. 

As I stood there looking back on the zipline, I realized that I could conquer my fears if I just go for it instead of trying to run from it.  The zipline did not look as scary as it did when I was half a mile on the other side of it.  I learned that it is much better to face your fears than to keep avoiding them like I did before.