Personal Narrative: Roller Coaster Ride

Since I was young, I have always had an inexplicable fear of heights. When I stood on the ground and looked up at a skyscraper, my heart would start racing and my legs would become weak. Even worse was when I looked down from a high spot; I would desperately clutch onto the railings and start to feel dizzy. Logically, I understood that there was nothing to fear from an immobile building and that there were safety precautions in place to prevent any accidents, but reason seemed to vanish whenever I found myself in such situations. Fortunately, these occurrences were rare, as I lived in a suburban neighborhood and therefore typically did not encounter any problematic heights. However, in high school, my physics class went on a field trip to the

Thus, when my friends wanted the Superman: Ride of Steel rollercoaster, a ride acknowledged for its incredible height of 205 feet with a 200-foot drop, I gathered my courage and decided to confront my fears. The first climb was almost painful; I felt as if hours had passed and I watched helplessly as the rest of the park seemed to shrink until I reached the top of the world. We started tipping over the hill while I thought of all the ways I could try escape, and then, we dropped. Throughout the entire two minutes of the ride, the fluttery feeling in my stomach never left, I felt as if my heart was pounding in my throat, and to this day, I still do not know how I made it through in one piece. Immediately after getting off of the ride, I felt uncomfortable and although I had faced my fears, I started to regret doing so. While resting, I was considering giving up, but after realizing that there was still so much to gain and receiving encouragement from my friends, I convinced myself to keep trying. I then joined my friends to face various other rides and rollercoasters available in the park although I was still quite scared during the first few of rides. By the end of the day, I began to understand some of the appeal that these rides had and found it somewhat exciting.

Of course, my fear of heights did