Heights don't bother me, it's falling that grabs my mind. It used to be incapacitating. I would freeze out of uncontrollable fear. The name is acrophobia and I have battled to get it under control. I can walk around on a roof without any problem because as long as I'm away from the edge there is no imminent danger. The hard part used to be the ladder. I could see the ground under me and I used to climb ladders just to fight that fear. Transitioning from the ladder to the roof, or worse, from the roof to the ladder I still fight with. I win most of the time and when I fail I wait a couple of minutes, give myself a good talking to and then push it to succeed. Nothing is impossible! I sometimes have to comfort that little kid in me that is afraid by telling him (me) that it will be alright and I will protect him (me). The fear subsides and I gain one more victory. Fear is an emotion that exists to be defeated. If you let it win it just gets stronger. It needs to be beaten. It always feels good to win.
When we were building the cabin (an A-frame) I had a ladder start to slide away from the building. The feet of the ladder just started moving away from the structure. I chose to respond to the fear by running down the ladder as it was sliding. when I got to the last few rungs there was enough weight to stop the slide and I walked off the ladder onto the ground. I was proud that I didn't freeze and end up falling from the top. I walked around for a couple of minutes, repositioned the ladder, drove a couple of stakes to keep it from sliding and went back to work. I took a great deal of pride in myself that day. That is what you have to do to beat unreasonable fears. Take pride in each little victory and keep going. The fear dissipates as long as you keep beating it. At one end of the path it's impossible. At the other end it is easy.
