Toe in the Water

Fear of Heights

Fear of Heights

A very wise and intelligent woman once told me that she was not afraid of heights. She added that she was not even bothered about falling off them. What worried her, she maintained, was that she did not think she would handle the landing particularly well.

I have thought about this for many years and have decided that, in contrast to my wife (for that is whom I have been speaking of), I really am scared of heights. This has nothing to do with falling off them or even landing after that event. I am fully aware of the wonderful views that can be obtained by standing on precarious heights but this has no bearing on my feelings regarding them. The plain fact is that I'm scared of heights because I'm scared of heights. It's really that simple and has nothing to do with some event in early life that gave me good reason to be so scared. There have been scary moments involving heights, it's true, but I can remember that I was already scared of heights before those events. I never climbed trees as a kid - there seemed no valid reason to put myself through so frightening an experience. When invited by some daredevil friend to risk life and limb by scaling some edifice for no apparent reason, I always declined to accept his kind offer. My feet are only happy when firmly in contact with the ground, as I have proved in the occasional airline flights I have endured. I am a man of the earth, a creature of solid ground, a hobbit indeed.

Understand how freeing is this revelation that has come to me so late in life. I am no longer bound to feel diminished by my fear of heights, I have no need to rationalize it or give feeble excuses, there is no law that insists I give a reason for my unreasoning fear. I am scared of heights because I am scared of heights. Deal with it.


Word count: 336