facing your fears in my case "afraid of heights"

i was lying in bed one week morning in march of 2007 swoosh swoosh swoosh  what could that be!! it was getting louder and louder.

oh must be the neighbour adjoining us he was always working in his garage. he built fences and was always doing something in his

"garage workshop"

but it was persistent and getting louder.i climb out of bed and looked out of my 2storey window . lo and behold what a beautiful sight!!! 2 hot air balloons flying rather low. oh they must be landing somewhere close. (recently i found out they sometimes land at moorabin) if going south.

i was fascinated i couldnt get my eyes off the balloon i quickly took a photo through the flyscreen of the window. what fascination. i had this strong urge that i needed to go on one.

such an inexplicable feeling. i couldnt shake it off. it was strong and in my thoughts. occasionally i would look at the photo that i took on my mobile phone. i showed one or two people but never laborated on it .

until just under a week of my fiftieth birthday may 2nd 2007 my boys asked me what i wanted for a gift. they asked for a list where they could choose but i only wanted one thing. "hot air ballooning"

i was presented with the gift voucher and i had 12 months to use. may being autumn in australia and especially melbourne it can get a little chilly. so my intention was spring like september. it was hubbys birthday in october but he said there was no way that he would get up there.

well then spring came and gone then summer came and gone and before i knew it we were almost in may again. well my last chance to use it otherwise i would forfeit it. so i took the plunge and booked.

well i had days ahead of me so i wasnt going to stress but as the time got close i was starting to worry and fear was a word in my mind constantly.

remember how you were years ago when you and hubby climbed the lighthouse i reminded myself. you were even too scared to stand by the railing to look at the view. 

remember tasmania when you did the "airwalk" at tahune and hubby ran up the swing bridge and started swinging it like mad and you clung to the sides for dear life!

remember going on the "ranger" and you screamed non stop with your eyes closed only to briefly open them and thinking you were going to hit the ground at full speed 

yes what have i done! but that feeling that drew me to the window that day never left my memory. was this meant to be? was i being challenged? was this my destination?

so i wrote a few blogs on minti and the reassurance was there. by others whose parents had been on it. by others just telling me how brave. all the time feeling that positive  vibes were indeed coming my way. people telling me what a lovely adventure i was going to have.

then i had my answer! i knew it was mind over matter and i knew that i couldnt let the fear spoil my adventure!

i knew also that if i wanted to conquer my fear then i would have to face it head on!!!

so off i went everything just seemed to fall into place just like  a jigsaw i couldnt believe how calm i felt.

it was such a smooth take off it didnt even feel like you were moving at all let alone up to  one thousand five hundred feet!!!

surprisingly my heart wasnt racing and my knees didnt go weak!! im finally cured

cheers annie

ps that feeling of euphoria hasnt left me yet and that was 3 days ago