would be no, not in a million lifetimes.

I have always been scared of heights. My fear was born mostly out of my overactive imagination supplying me with images of a brutal death from falling, the pain of breaking my bones and a fear of being paralyzed (think Me Before You). I have reluctantly explored the caves of Sagada, made it out in one piece, but without my dignity as I ugly cried when we finally emerged. I was so scared I was never getting out of that place alive (I was claustrophobic too, what a great combination of fears to have). I have been on two sky walks, mountain treks with no safety gear and also did a cliff dive even though I barely knew how to swim. I did it all with sweaty palms and almost always on the verge of tears. A friend pointed out that if I was so scared, how come I managed to do all these things. Two words. Peer pressure. 

One afternoon as I was walking down a narrow flight of stairs at my new job, my heel snagged at a loose piece of metal that stuck out and I fell down 8 painful steps. I sprained my ankle but it was nothing serious. 6 months later, I tripped at the parking lot and once again sprained my ankle. As I sat on my wheelchair in Makati Med, I thought to myself that, all my life, I had been extremely cautious and very scared whenever a trip I'm taking involved heights or a risky activity yet I've never been injured in any of those situations. But here I was, coming from an uneventful day at work, sitting on a wheelchair with a sprained ankle. And when people asked why I was in a wheelchair, I had no fascinating story to tell. 

From then on I resolved that If I was going to get a sprained ankle, might as well get a good story out of it. Life was too short and I was shortchanging myself by being afraid instead of living in the moment. 

I took small steps to start facing my fear. I started by going to a wall climbing facility (once), I did a relatively easy mountain trek and then finally decided to go skydiving (what a leap right?). I mean, if I was going to die then free falling at 14,000 feet would have been a good way to go and it would make for a much better story at a funeral.