Come Josephine in your flying maching...

6/5/14

On Thursday, three days before we return back to the states, we went zip-lining through the cloud forest of Monteverde.  This was an interesting experience to me, and one I was dreading for the entire trip.  Mostly because I am terrified of heights, and plummeting down from very high places, but also because I am afraid of taking chances (this is a big ahah moment for me).  I am comfortable and content in my calm and normal and predictable life.  I have known from the beginning of this journey, that on this day, we would be zip-lining.  I have taken the emotional journey of being terrified, to being content with the idea of it, while still being terrified.  My personal beliefs tell me that I will die, when it is my time to go, and there is nothing I can do about it.  Therefore, if I am supposed to die while zip-lining, it's going to happen (I know it's a little morbid, sorry).

So, here we are, and it is time to zip-line, and I am wearing my quick drying pants, just in case I pee myself, and I am terrified.  But in the end, I push myself to do it, because I will never in my life, be in this very moment again, in the middle of a Costa Rican cloud forest, with the opportunity to do a zip-lining canopy tour. 

In the end, it was a step by step process, just like everything else.  There were 8 zips plus one practice zip.  Practice zip: I made it through the practice, and I am still alive, but not sure I want to continue.  Zip 1:  I go, but only after the guide agreed to go with me, attached to me the entire way.  I survived.  Zip 2:  I go alone and am the first one to go, which ensures nobody can see my terrified face when I get to the end.  Zip 3: Still by myself, first one to to, and a little more comfortable, I open my eyes.  Zip 4:  First one to go, eyes open and I actually look around, but we are in a cloud so the fog is so thick I can barely see, which makes me feel a little claustrophobic.  Skip to Zip 8:  Last zip.  I actually really enjoyed this, and the adrenaline rush, but I am also content in this being my only zip lining experience ever.

Through this experience, I learned that I push my limits and do things that I would not normally do.  I learned that I can push my limits, and not die.  I also learned that it is not natural to sail through the air over the clouds, and maybe fate should not always be tested, and it's okay to be boring and content with my boring, on the ground, life.