Fear of heights

I don’t know exactly when I developed a fear of heights. As a kid, I loved looking down from heights … from an airplane window, from balconies, sometimes from precarious places. Mount Pleasant is a small town in a relatively flat area, so the body memory of that probably got a bit rusty. Anyway, these days, I’m terrified of heights. Not even so much the falling and sudden stopping part, just looking down.

When I started a health journey two years ago, I made a daily priority goal of hitting 10,000 steps. It doesn’t make any difference how busy I am at work or how lousy the weather, I get those steps in*. It’s helped with memory and attention span and general health. So, I’ll keep doing it as long as my legs keep working.

There are two places on campus I like to incorporate because both involve fourth floors that have exposed views of the ground floor: the library and the science building. When I can, I get to the top and pause to look down to the ground.

It’s helped. My palms have stopped sweating and my heart has stopped racing. The vertigo has nearly gone away, too.

*—There’ve been a couple of holiday-related exceptions.