[BMathison]

We went zip-lining in the Smokey Mountains during Spring break.

I am intensely afraid of heights, but I wanted to try zip-lining once. We went with a professional firm -- had all the safety gear/helmets/etc.. To my surprise, I didn't close my eyes once, and even enjoyed the scenery!

The next day we climbed up to Chimney Rock (the elevator was out), and I was shaking like a leaf going up the stairs. So, I don't know what it was about zip-lining that made me feel safe. Maybe it happened so fast that I didn't have time to be terrified!

 

[BMathison]

I've always heard that once you get more that a certain distance from the nearest object below you the perspective or something changes and you don't feel the height the way you do when you're looking down from a ladder or stairs or such and get that feeling of vertigo. That's why you don't feel height when you look out the window of an airliner at 30000 feet up. Probably the zip line was high enough off the ground that your brain didn't compute the height.

Well, that makes sense. Now... how to trick my mind into thinking I'm at 30,000 feet when I'm much closer. That vertigo stinks!