Do or do not... there is no try

So, I just had my last class of rock climbing.  I wouldn't say that I'm a proficient climber.  I wouldn't say I'm over my fear of heights... but I can say that I've gotten more out of this than expected.  I started fully expecting to never get more than 5 feet off the ground.  I also was fairly certain that I would get stuck and need the fire department to come rescue me - or at the very least the instructor would have to come up and pry my fear-frozen fingers off their handholds.

None of that happened.

On arrival at my last class, the instructor had me write my name on a shockingly bright piece of tape.  She then climbed up the wall (at an impressive rate of speed I might add) to hang a bag of candy from the very top of the wall.  The idea was to climb as high as I could, and stick my tape there - kind of like an explorer in the British or Spanish Empires planting the flag to claim a new spot of land.  Not that others weren't already there... but that wasn't the point.  The point was to lay my claim to my highest point, not be the first person to do so.

The other three people in my class climbed before me.  One made it about 5 feet up.  Another made it about 10 feet up.  I had climbed higher on my first day - and I was the one who was self-admittedly terrified of step stools.  I really tried not to feel superior, because I'm not.  I'm still decidedly nervous when I leave my beloved ground... I've just learned to work past that fear.  Fear is nothing but a bunch of chemicals washing the brain and causing the heart rate to go up.  It's either a learned or instinctive response to stimuli - in and of itself fear is truly only in your mind.  But back to my climb:

As I started my climb, I heard Yoda in the back of my mind.  "Do or do not, there is no try."  (Yes, I am that much of a nerd).  At the crest of each little lip that I had to move past, I needed to breathe past my fear-response; to take the time to remind myself that my panic is simply a learned response to heights, and that I was perfectly safe.  Honestly, just about the worst thing that could happen would be to break a nail - which incidentally I did.  Several times.

To get to the point, I made it to the top.  I placed my little pink strip of tape with my name at the very tippy top of the rock wall.  And I dumped a bunch of chocolates down for the kids waiting at the bottom to scrabble over.  Personally, I wouldn't want to eat a Hershey's Kiss that fell 30 feet, but apparently kids aren't so picky.  Godiva dark chocolate truffles are a different story...

If you look really closely, you'll see a tiny strip of pink tape at the very top, just to the left of the bag hanging from a nylon tie on a carabiner clip.  That one is mine!  I claimed that piece of artificially crafted rock in the name of Leena (but not England, or Spain.  They can keep their rocks... I have mine).