It’s a jungle out there: Overcoming my fears on a trip to Costa Rica
El Dorado High School students were offered a life-changing opportunity to travel to Costa Rica for 10 days over this past summer. I was one of the lucky ones able to go.
It was a truly life-changing experience for many reasons.
I am really scared of heights and I had to overcome that many times on several different occa-sions throughout the trip. We went hiking at high altitudes, rode an aerial tram that was way above the trees, and scariest of all, we went zip lining. When I first knew I was going on the trip, I had it in my head that I wasn’t going to zip line because of my fear of heights.
Mrs. Angie Parker, the chaperone for the trip, told me, “You’ll regret it if you don’t.”
You have to jump to get harnessed and when I jumped to clip onto the line, the staff pushed me.
I was still scared, but I kept thinking, “I’m actually doing this!”
It was a huge feeling of joy that I will always remember. Looking out at the spectacular view, I was almost in tears. I felt amazing.
We also went white water rafting. Rafting was also a big fear of mine because there are many things that could go wrong including flipping over in the raft and not being able to swim while the current is pulling you down.
We had to complete some obstacles such as stand on the side of the raft while it was moving, jump out, and duck down when a big dip in the water was coming.
I was scared, and even had a panic attack, but in the end, those two experiences were some of the best things I’ve ever done.
Fears are what I like to call “what if’s.” My definition of a “what if” is questioning things that likely won’t happen, but you get anxious about them anyway.
The “what if” questions I had throughout our trip included “What if I get too scared when I get on the zipline platform and I back out?” or “What if my harness breaks?” and “What if I fall out of the raft and get stuck under a rock?”
Although these are logical fears to have, they probably won’t come true. As soon as I stepped off the platform and got in the raft those fears disappeared.
At times I found myself saying or thinking, “Is this really my life? and “I can’t believe I’m doing this right now.”
Parker has two other trips coming up this summer, Hawaii and Europe, and another one being announced in September. You should go because it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.
When will you ever get the chance to go ziplining over a waterfall, kayak right beside a volcano, eat fresh pineapple straight from the fields of Costa Rica, or have a monkey literally less than Five feet from you on the beach? If finances are a big issue for you, and you really have a passion for the trips, there are scholarship opportunities available for you to apply for, and you don’t have to pay anything except spending money.
These trips last 10 days and sometimes more, and for the amount of things you get to do and see, the price is unbeatable. If you were to go by yourself on a trip like this with your family, it would be at least $3,000 more dollars, and you probably wouldn’t get to see the same amount of things as you do with the Global Classroom program.
Don’t regret anything or worry about the “what ifs.” Just jump, and you will see a great view ahead of you.