My Personal "Fear Challenge"

I've written before about why I support the Canadian Cancer Society (click here for my previous post), but I've decided to raise funds in a different way that I wanted to share with you.

When my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2011, it was a scary time for many reasons: fear of the unknown, fear of losing my dad... but my dad remained positive through it all.  He fought hard.  If he was able to face cancer head on, I should be able to face my own fears.

For as long as I can remember, I have had a fear of heights.  To put my fear in to perspective, I used to work in tourism at a National Historic Site, and to reach the upper level of the site, I had to go up a set of stairs on the outside of the building.  These were good sturdy metal stairs, and we were about 2 stories, up, but it made me nervous.  Each time.  We had to give guided tours, and I would turn and look at the building each time I went up so I didn't see the ground.  Sometimes tourists would stand out on the step to take pictures of the city (we had a spectacular view) and I couldn't even watch them do that because it made me so nervous.

When I am up high, I can't talk to anyone, I don't want anyone to touch me, and I don't want anyone talking about the height.  I'm terrified.  But, what I've decided to do is face that fear, and I am trying to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society in the process.

Rides can be fun, and I've been on my fair share, but generally I avoid things like ferris wheels or things that take me for a slow ride in the air.  I tried to face my fear once before on the CN Tower, but I ended up turning my back to the glass in the elevator, so I didn't have to watch us go up.   Fast forward to today, I'm willing to face my fear when I head to Florida in March.  My family and I will be heading to Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay where a new ride was opened in 2014. This ride, called "Falcon's Fury" takes riders, very slowly, up 335 feet in the air, rotates their seats 90 degrees (so you're facing the ground) and drops them at 60 mph back down to the ground.  I'm so terrified of this ride, my hands are literally sweating as I write this.

Want to see what I'm talking about, watch the hosts of "Attractions Magazine" take this terrifying ride:

If I can raise $2000 before my trip in March, I will ride this terrifying thing.  Read more about my personal fear challenge, and, if you wish, pledge me in my challenge.

Click here for Katie's Fear Challenge page.