Empowerment & New Perspectives Through The Choices We Make

I have been afraid of heights for most of my adult life. I don’t remember being afraid when I was young, but it sure became a problem when I got older.

At the time of the following incident, I was living in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada near the river valley. This is a beautiful area that had been made into parks with miles of hiking trails along the river. I spent a good deal of time walking down there, but a very steep cliff stood between my home and the trails. Paths had been constructed down the cliff, but I was between two of them and had to walk a fair distance along a main road to get to either of them.

On one occasion, I was walking with a friend trying to find another access point down the cliff. We discovered a path we had never seen before. It was quite close to my home, but it was extremely steep and very slippery as it was covered with ice. I was terrified. I couldn’t go down the path. There was a sheer drop on one side of the path and very little to hold onto on the other. I gave up and walked to the "official" path down to the valley.

A couple of days later, I decided to go for a walk. I was alone and chose to try going down the new path by myself. Just the thought of it made my heart beat faster, but I was determined to attempt it.

I arrived at the top and looked down. I prayed. I look again. It was sooooo steep. I prayed some more. I shook, not from the cold, although it was probably around –25 C, but from fear. How was I going to get down that path? I was petrified and stood shaking at the top of the path. It was icy and glistened in the sun. But, I just knew I had to do this... for my self.

Thank goodness there was nobody around to see me make a fool of myself. I moved forward slightly and put one foot on the slippery path... then another. Thus I proceeded, one foot after the other. I went very, very slowly down the path shaking with every step, but unwavering in my goal to do it.

Every step I took was a nightmare. I went hot and cold, and sweat beaded on my forehead despite the cold. I had no idea how long it would take me to get down the cliff, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to conquer my fear.

However, I was in for a real surprise!

The path curved around some sparse bushes not far from the top. I had assumed it just went on down the cliff, but when I finally arrived at the bushes, I could clearly see there were, in fact, two paths!

One went pretty well straight down. The other meandered down the cliff at a very easy angle and it wasn't as slippery as the other one!

I was saved! At least that’s how I felt. I practically ran down to the cliff. Well, not exactly ran, but it felt like it compared to my exceedingly slow rate at the beginning.

Now, you may not think this is much of an anecdote, but I want to illustrate that we never know what’s around the corner. If you use this story as an anology for life, you'll see that we have no idea where life is going to take us, or how many easy or difficult paths there are to choose from... until we make the choice to try!

The point is: We have the freedom to choose!

I could have chosen not to attempt that path in the first place. It would have been easy for me to go to one of the other paths, not as convenient, but easier. But I chose to overcome my fear. I chose to attempt something I was afraid to do.

The easy path didn't open up for me until AFTER I had made the choice to go ahead, no matter what, and took action. It appears that a force greater than our self comes into play as soon as we make a decision to move toward our goal.

I conquered my fear through the choice I made and I felt elated!

Now that’s power!