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Skylar Khan faces her fear of ziplines.
Throughout our lifetime, we may experience one fear or another at different times. Fear is a healthy reaction to whatever threatens our well being or life itself.
There is also the fear of death that comes with age, the closer we are to making the final transition to the unknown.
In my younger years, I had a fear of flying and would not travel by air for about four years. This was not so much an emotion as it was a mental condition. I do not remember what changed that, but suspect that air travel became a necessity rather than a choice.
I felt another kind of fright on one occasion when showing a home to a prospective client. The homeowner was not present when we entered the property and we were greeted by a huge dog that was really happy to see us. I was almost knocked over when he jumped me and I suddenly was overwhelmed by a paralyzing fear that literally induced a change in body chemistry from head to toe.
I had heard it said that animals will be able to smell fear. Well, here we were and I was petrified. This was an awkward moment. The situation was relieved by the fact that my client was the owner of two large pets herself and had no trouble dealing with this particular dog.
Not long thereafter, my husband and I adopted a little dog weighing no less than 13 lbs. No matter, from that time on I knew that any other dog would be able to smell the scent of mine on my clothes, and thus the fear evaporated.
Another time I was holding an open house for sale on the outskirts of town. The area included mostly horse properties with acreage and neighbors lived far away from each other.
As is common, the owners of this particular property left for the duration of the open house. No one came to see it and it was a rather boring afternoon and I considered it a waste of my time.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I was overcome by an irrational fear. Dread took over body and mind to the point where I locked all the doors to the property.
Shortly thereafter the door bell rang. I went to the front door and peeked through the small glass. Parked outside was an old rickety red automobile, but I could not see the person by the door. I shouted that I was unable to unlock the door, but the person wanted to come in and see the house.
At this point, a serious engagement took place between my better self and my indoctrinated mind. My mind was telling me that I am here to try and sell a house, that this is my job and the reason for my presence. And that my behavior is not professional.
So I finally opened the door with shaking hands. The man who entered was of ordinary height and looks, perhaps a trace meaner than some, in his forties or fifties. There was some conversation and after walking through the kitchen and living room, we wound up in the indoor swimming pool area. I made it a point to keep the pool between us and rattled down data about the specifics of the property.
Suddenly a palpable change of atmosphere took place. I could feel malevolence, and my mind was racing to find an out, so to speak, a solution to this predicament that I had put myself into by overruling the original premonition that had me lock the doors in the first place. I was really desperate and felt like a trapped animal. For all I knew, he might have removed the directional signs leading to the property.
Luck was on my side. Suddenly voices emanated from the kitchen area. The children had become tired and the family returned home early—saving my skin. I never told anyone about the incident and just decided to never hold open houses again in desolated areas. However, we soon learned of other Realtors who had been cornered, then one was killed, and soon thereafter another one was also murdered.
Discussion throughout the community ensued about trusting one’s intuition, locking doors when feeling uncomfortable, as a first defense, and maybe choosing to carry a weapon.
A month ago, I experienced another kind fear, this time of my own choosing. I had heard about the Arizona Zipline Adventures in Oracle and was immediately intrigued by the prospect of trying it out.
The drive to the Zipline is very beautiful as the road winds upward through pristine rolling hills. I plan to go back there again soon for lunch with a breathtaking view. The owners have built a beautiful receiving hall and porch where the entourage of ‘Zippers’ can lounge around, eat, picnic and just enjoy themselves in the shade.
I showed up on the grand opening weekend and asked about where to buy the ticket to zip and was told that people usually reserve their spot, but there would be a new group in an hour, unless I was ready right now to join the earlier group.
I felt that waiting around might increase a slight feeling of unease and jumped at the opportunity to zip right now. We were a group of five, and the owner came over and exchanged my harness gear to a smaller one because of my height and helped me put it on.
The introductory weekend price included the short zip line and the very long one. Regular tours however include five different ziplines, building up from the short one to the 1,500 feet line. First, we traveled the short zipline that allowed us to get familiarized, and then we were driven by van to the five-story tower from which one experiences a “death defying” flight over beautiful desertscape at 60-75 miles per hour.
People in my group were very kind and respectful of my age (I declared 75 because I did not know if there was a cut off age), and one man actually carried my gear to the top! One lady mentioned butterflies, but I did not see any. After a few more comments, I realized that she was talking about butterflies in her stomach.
My companions zipped in pairs and I was the last one to go. Standing there, on the five-story platform and tethered to the steel wire, I suddenly felt a dreadful fear come over me. My mind was arguing with my better self about this plan and hinted that it could still be aborted.
However, I had made the decision to zip earlier on and had come too far to bail out now. I was basically challenging myself and argued with the fearful part that if former president Bush at age 90 can jump out of a plane then surely I can zip down a line, safely tucked into a harness. This internal conversation took up some time and I must compliment the platform attendant for her patience and professionalism.
Ultimately, she asked me if I might feel more comfortable stepping off the slightly lower ledge of the platform. Absurd as it may seem in retrospect, it did make sense to me at the time and I agreed. As I lifted my foot to step down, I was air born and zipping down as fast as my body weight would carry me.
It was a most exhilarating experience, albeit too short, and at the end very liberating!
As the saying goes: Fear is only temporary, regret lasts forever.
Fear Handwriting Sample
Fear can be discerned in the handwriting specimen as follows:
Fear of the future is seen in the backward bent downstrokes of the letter H in ‘Heart’ and the t in ‘about.’
Fear of taking risks is seen in the margins: narrow margin on the left, and large margin on the right side of the page.
For more information and comments, please write to sky@theriver.com.
Skylar Khan lives on a vortex in Oracle. She is a Master Graphoanalyst and has been contributing articles to The Oracle Towne Crier about personality traits revealed through Handwriting Analysis. Her book “Handwriting Rocks” is informative and entertaining. For more information, please visit HandwritingAuthority.com
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