Last week I wrote an article about my fear of heights, and I also mentioned my other fear of being upside down. This may seem like a bit of an oddity, but it truly does freak me out.

It all started when I was about 9 or 10. My family went on a vacation in Nebraska with some family friends. On the way back home, we decided to stop at the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum to see all the cool space things it had to offer. It had a bunch of cool rockets, and I just remember being in shock over the amount of cool stuff.

Then we came to the simulator. This simulator acted like a space shuttle, and passengers could experience what the astronauts did on a smaller scale. At that point in my life I was a very adventurous person. I tried just about everything. I was the one who went on all the roller coasters with my dad while my mom hung back with my younger brother. So this space simulator wouldn’t be a challenge for me. I was ready.

My dad had a crash course on how to run the controls, and then we hopped in. And it only took a couple of minutes before we were upside down. It was probably only a couple of seconds, maybe a minute, before my dad hit the emergency end button, but that was plenty of time for me. The blood rushing to my head was not a comfortable feeling, and I didn’t like having my stomach in my throat. I was screaming and crying telling him to hit the button, while he sat there laughing. But as soon as he realized how freaked out I was, he hit the button. That moment only lasted for a few seconds, but it was enough. Ever since I’ve been scared of heights.

I have since tried to conquer this fear, but I don’t face it as much as the fear of heights. My senior year of high school I went to Disney World with the marching band. My then boyfriend came along, and convinced me to go on the Rock n’ Roller Coaster. We sat up front, and as soon as the ride shot off at an outrageous speed, I was nervous. The ride goes on at a ridiculous speed, and lights up at almost every loop in takes you on. Seeing each loop before it came only made it worse for me, and by the end of the ride I was shaking. 2 years later, Nick and I went to the Mall of America for our 5^th year anniversary. And we went on the SpongeBob Squarepants Rock Bottom Plunge Roller Coaster. Not only does this one bring you up to the ceiling in the mall and then plunge you back down (hence the Plunge) but then progresses through multiple loops. This coaster made me face my top two biggest fears. Besides the plunge (which was absolutely terrifying) the coaster wasn’t too terrible.

In the past few years, I have proven that I am capable of facing my fears. Once again, I just want to remind people to be kind to people when they express their fear of something. Don’t bully them into doing something they’re afraid of, and don’t make fun of their fears. It can take a lot of courage to admit you’re afraid of something, so just remember to support one another.