Transformation is Sexy

“Nothing is sexier than watching active transformation” came sliding out of my mouth suspended 90 feet above the ground.

I went zip lining with my friend Brandy last week.  She was terrified.  Okay, terrified is a generous understatement.  She was silent in the car ride to the zip location. She robotically geared up with the assistance of our guide.  Trembling she wanted to run.  A few times she said ” no I can’t” and those around her would remind her she could.  Her skin was a cross between ghost and paste and her energy was somewhere outside of her body.  She had a good reason to be frightened.  Several months prior she had been in a plane circling over LAX when the plane caught on fire, smoke filling the cabin.  She associated the experience of height with potential death and she wanted to move beyond and through this fear.  It was, however, active within her and running her body.

We were given safety instructions and then we ascended via a rope ladder to our first launch pad.

Once on the pad I looked toward Brandy and didn’t see the friend I knew.  I saw a woman battling to save her life when it wasn’t threatened.  Our guide, Chris, helped three, four, five others and then it was her turn.  She couldn’t.  She wouldn’t.  He suggested she simply practice getting in a squatting position ready to lift her legs and then she could decide.  He was advocating baby steps.  Reluctantly, Brandy did.  Then Chris pushed her.  She flew off of the platform, harness in place, gliding above the trees.  Sobs could be heard across the course.  She was caught on the other side by Ben, another guide, as she continued to cry releasing the fear through tears.

Then something brilliant happened.  She did it again, and again, and again.  By the third or fourth time she no longer carried the fear within her body.  It was gone.  She was restored.  With the restoration came a glow as a bi-product of transformation.  To be the presence of fear turned confidence is a holy, holy experience.  This is when I uttered my sexy comment.

Brandy took the plunge to transform fear.  I took the plunge as part of my “daring year” of turning 50.  The gift I was given was the visceral memory of courage. And, courage is definitely sexy.

(Note: Story and photos were used with Brandy’s blessing :})