“I don’t think so,” I said back to Jack who was urging me on from back on the bridge, the safety of the bridge. “It’s a bit higher than I thought when I signed up for this.”

Jack laughed at me which made my current predicament worse. “Come on mate, you wanted to overcome your fear of heights, you’ve worked for this.”

His words were encouraging even if I could tell he was laughing still on the inside. “Well, fear of heights is a lot less important to overcome for me than I now thought.” Looking again at the budgie jumping gear and then back to the ravine. There was a riving running through it. My girlfriend was down there with our camera waiting for me to jump… I sure was a coward.

“Look, man, we can’t force you to jump-” Jack said but I interrupted him.

“Shut up!” I concentrated on what I had studied, I knew in my head it would be alright but being this close to the edge made me feel dizzy and disoriented. I slowed my breathing and began to focus.

One footstep at a time… right to the edge. I was half afraid that Jack would push me from behind but resisted the urge to glance back. I felt the wind on my face and focused on that sensation and tried to block out where I was standing…

Three………..

Two……..

One…

I stepped off.