Wednesday 22 August 2018

Challenging Myself | Go Ape Chessington


Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Recently I ended up in AiE, too much stress, looking everyone else except myself, my control issues, yes, I know I have massive control issues.

Let it go, chill, calm down, is something that my partner tells me often, I don't really know how to relax, I try to solve every problem including the ones that don't belong to me and I must start thinking more about me!

During that process, I found the Go Ape website, they have amazing experiences all over and because I HAVE A HUGE FEAR OF HEIGHTS I decided to challenge that fear and do the Tree Top Adventure at Go Ape Chessington.



Challenge my fear was not my best idea, but I had an E X C E L L E N T experience.   
On arrival, after all the safety checks we went to the 1st step where we had a small train of what was expect to be done...

From the first step, we moved to the HUB where step 2, 3 and 4 departed from.





I must say that step one was quite easy, in step 2 I found some difficulties, especially because I really don't manage well heights and because I'm not the fittest person in the face of the earth... my physical condition is quite poor.


Almost at the end of step 3, nearly there, just before the bridge and the slide, I was doing it well, but then I didn't manage to push myself so I tried to slide to the end but I got stuck in the middle and I couldn't move forwards or backwards I started panicking looking down, got myself in a panic stage that I couldn't even grab my whistle so I just manage between crying to beg Paulo to use his.

Yes, I have been saved today, mainly from myself.

And WOW

Thinking in retrospective it was amazing, In seconds I had someone under me giving me instructions, as soon as she recognized that I wasn't moving that I was with my legs in the rope she ran, she got to the platform that I was supposed to reach probably in less than a minute, and you can't imagine, the slide that we used to go down, she used to go up, was amazing, I was so scared, but she was great!

As a nurse, as a former firefighter and as a normal person I tried to calm down people and I know how challenging someone that is in an irrational mental status can be, but she was fabulous with me, but I was managed so well, I felt calmer and having someone with me until I reached the ground was amazing.

I decided to carry on with step 4 and 5 on the ground, I had already some rope burns, I couldn't fell my arms or my legs, I could just feel my body shaking and my heart beating.


Paulo carried on until the end and had a fabulous time. 


His thoughts are always in the ground but his body can be in the top of the trees that he doesn't mind, I'm the other way around, I dream big but my feet belong in the ground.

It was a self-learning experience and besides the shame of being rescued while 2 kids done it just before me...  My sense of control or lack of it gets me in troubles, I have trust issues and heights are not for me. It was a great way to release stress, all day I didn't manage to think about problems or stresses in general.

Paulo's experience: An awesome experience, I managed slides before in a different context, but everything else was great, each step was well complemented by different activities, I love this kind of days out. I Highly recommend anyone to try it!


In general, it was an amazing experience, 3 hours really well spent and we recommend everybody to try, I had to be rescued indeed, but part of the way I challenged myself, I was considering to do the Segways experience, but I wasn't going to challenge myself, even that I had a panic attack, well I still fell quite proud of myself because I manage to beat my fear for half of the experience, next time I will manage more time, until one day I start to feel safe hanging in a rope 10 meters from the ground!

Experience 4.5 stars
Staff 5.5 stars / 5 stars
Environment 4.5 stars
Equipment 5 stars
Rescue 10 stars

Thank you Go Ape team, we really enjoyed our experience!
#goapetribe

 

4 comments:

  1. Ainda não tive oportunidade de experimentar Arborismo, mas sempre me pareceu divertido! É algo que quero fazer apesar de também ter algum medo de alturas :P

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  2. It's really great to challenge yourself, it's a learning experience. I'm glad you had a good time, and even though you didn't finish slide 4,5 it's freaking amazing doing the previous ones. I hope your fear of heights has shrunk and I hope you'll have more fun experiences x)

    A free soul.

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  3. Bem, é preciso coragem... :) Beijinhos*

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  4. Eu fui a um sítio desse género quando era miúda e adorei aquilo tudo, gostava de poder ir novamente.

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