Have a Fear of Heights?

[JWBear]

I have no problem with heights as long as there is a barrier (even if it’s just a railing) or some kind of restraint to keep me from going over the edge. I once freaked out a friend by pressing myself against a floor length window in a 20th floor hotel room.

An open I-beam?? No way in hell.

I also will not walk on a glass floor. I don’t care if it’s only a foot off the ground and 6 inches thick, I will not walk on it.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by JWBear

I also will not walk on a glass floor. I don’t care if it’s only a foot off the ground and 6 inches thick, I will not walk on it.

The last time I danced in public was on the glass square in the floor of Tokyo Tower just to mildly freak out a phobic companion.

But the glass floor thing is very instinctive in human. I remember in a developmental psych classes back in college watching a video where they tried to coax toddlers (still crawling) out onto clear suspended plexiglass and could not do it, even when something else (toys generally) was on the plexiglass to show that they wouldn't fall.

[Alex]

Lani won't do drop rides (she's fine with heights generally, just not with dropping) because they scare her.

I won't do them because they bore me.

When I was about 10 I fell out of a tree from about 50 feet up (I was well above the roof our our two-story, atticed house). Somehow bouncing off branches, uncontrolled, on the way down I suffered no injury but some scratches. I think that feeling of invulnerability (others might have focused on the failure of falling but I focused on the cool success of survival) completely destroyed any potential heights phobia that might otherwise have developed.

[Not Afraid]

I have a love-hate relationship with heights. I would never go out to a place without a barrier of some sort - but only because i'm a klutz. I don't have a fear of heights - although the bottoms of my feet get all tingly when I look down from high places - I have a fear of tripping and falling.

[madmonkeygirl]

Funny i've done a skycoaster and loved it. Same with shoot the thingy at Magic Mountain and Sling Shot. Those didn't bother me too much. Skydiving i've wanted to do it just scared of the fact of jumping out of a plane but watching my brother skydive it does look fun. Plus you're strapped to an instructor your very first time. Now bungee jumping no way no how. Ouch. The things CM tells me about it too no thank you.

I used to snow ski alot. I love chair lifts. The funny thing was is i used to ride them in bad bad winds as well as snow storms where the lifts were being swayed back and forth the chairs themselves back and forth like swings seriously. I just held on and didn't really panic much. Knowing snow was below me instead of pure hard ground.

[Brigitte]

I was okay with heights until I had kids. Now I get nervous if I have to get up on the roof of the house. The deck is fine, the roof is not.

[Not Afraid]

Ski lifts don't bother me. Getting OFF the ski lift bothers me.

[katiesue]

Heights don't bother me much. Ski lifts etc are fine as long as you're not with some jackass who thinks it's fun to swing them around.

[blueerica]

I've taken a turn for the more daring, as of late. Never been afraid of heights, but after I did the big giant swing thing (added link: read the section on the Skycoaster) at an amusement part in Utah, the sensation of falling has really captured my interest. When I was in Utah last, J brought me to an indoor skydiving place that just opened up. I had so much fun, but unfortunately, I wasn't feeling good AT ALL and was stuffed up. Anyone who's done anything like that knows how much wind comes up at your face - I just couldn't breathe.

The plan is to do it again. Down the street from where he's living now they have a small airport and I'm always seeing people skydiving. I'm not sure if I'll go skydiving by the end of this year, but definitely by next spring, and in the meanwhile, there's indoor skydiving - where I can learn to control my movements.

I guess what I've come to like about it are the endorphins that stay with me throughout the day. Better than any drug I've tried, hands down.

[Kevy Baby]

And in this line of discussion, I would like to mention that Susan HATES that feeling of your stomach lurching on a drop ride like a parachute ride (although she does like ToT). However, what finally convinced her to try skydiving was when she found out that you don't experience that sensation.

When you jump out of a plane, there isn't a "drop" as much as a changing of direction: you are moving forward and then you turn to be moving downward.

For her it was made better by virtue of being strapped to a very good-looking Aussie!