Day 27 Without Anxiety

Up at the O₂



What's The Challenge?
Climb Up and Over the London O2.

Why The Anxiety?
I am afraid of heights. That should be enough, testing my fear, but I'm adding to my anxiety by doing this challenge with a group of people I have never met before. We all know about stranger danger and that's all my mind can think about when I'm around people I don't know. However, I am doing this for a good cause and climbing the London O2 for a wonderful charity POST PALS. I thought it would be brilliant to not only complete another challenge but to help out a small charity through fundraising and raising awareness about their beautiful and heartwarming work. I was worried I wouldn't raise enough funds and that people wouldn't be interested in the charity.

Anxiety before? 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴⭕⭕⭕⭕
This all started because I saw a tweet from Fearne Cotton (@Fearnecotton) (patron of Post Pals) asking her followers if anyone would like to do a climb for a small charity. It peaked my curiosity and after a few emails to the charity, my place was booked.
I decided to pay for my own climb (and donate) and asked for any donations on top of that so that people knew their money was going straight to the charity, and not towards my experience, this eased my anxiety surrounding raising funds. My Just Giving page is now closed but you can still donate to Post Pals JustGiving Page.
As the day approached my anxiety was creeping in a little, I had a few sleepless nights before the big day. My dad being the gent (/taxi driver to his children) that he is, offered me a lift to London which was lovely. Dad jokes, and interesting facts about London helped to ease my worries and distract my brain from 'worst case scenario's'. I still had nausea I couldn't shake, a wee headache, and my tummy that decided to start acrobatic moves, but the support made this process a whole lot easier than if I'd have been alone.
After debating whether or not my dad would do the climb too, and a spot of lunch, I signed in with a group of people I had never met before, half of which were children, either supporting or being supported by the charity.
The friendly faces (included one painted bright blue) made me feel welcome and after a couple of minutes I was chatting away with everyone, and discovering their stories and reasons for doing the climb, from personal challenges, conquering fears, a birthday, to supporting the charity they love.

Anxiety During?
The Climb Up 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴⭕⭕⭕⭕
You can probably tell by my face (video will be uploaded soon) that I was "pooping" my pants to keep it 'pg'. I have always had a fear of heights (despite being the tallest in my class and towering over others from a young age), I'm not sure why, maybe it's more so a fear of falling from a height rather than being up high, anyhow I'm not a fan. I wasn't the only one, the support and morale boost everyone was giving each other was incredible! I was one of the last up on the climb and during the climb up I was with a woman I had a lot in common with and a young girl (who I won't be naming). She made my climb, she is a fabulous young lady with so much spirit, her nerves were probably as high as mine (I honestly think she was braver), after helping her with getting her cables through the little slots, we starting talking and didn't stop. She was happy to tell me she had cystic fibrosis, and explain a little bit about her condition in the most understandable way I think I've ever heard, but even happier to talk about Harry Potter, (I'm also a very big fan), school, her family and food. My new friends and I helped each other along, they distracting me with conversation and jokes, whilst I helped with the rope. I was even given some brilliant challenge ideas that I took on board
On Top ⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕
As soon as the rope mechanism was released, and was on a more normal texture of flooring a relief washed over me, we made it, it may have only been halfway but we made it, we were at the top! After a walk around taking in the view (and wishing I had my dad up here to tell me what all these buildings around me actually were) we took a group photo and everyone began calling their loved ones so they could share their joy and the view. At that moment in time at on top of the O2, I felt like I could breathe again, there was a beauty to being up high and watching the hustle and bustle of the city. There was a sense of achievement and pride in the air, we had all done the climb, and suddenly I realised I had no feeling of anxiety, I was calm and happy.
That was until we started to climb down.
The Climb Down 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴⭕⭕
You should be able to tell from the video (that will be up soon) that the descent just suddenly drops off. The fact that you cannot see where you are about to walk is terrifying. As you edge closer to 'the drop' everyone in front of you is disappearing off the edge. We had descended in a different order to our climb up and I was no longer partnered with the same people I had ascended with. My heart started racing, I found moving the rope harder and was losing my balance a little, my tummy started to think I was an acrobat again and I could feel my lunch wanting to escape me. I raised my hand, I had to stop I felt like I was about to faint, everyone was understanding ( I wasn't the only one feeling this way), most of us paused and some of us were handed water, after a little breather we were good to go and walked down until we could feel land beneath our feet. (Just goes to show, help is always there when you ask and people may be more understanding than you think.)

Anxiety After? 🔴⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕⭕
I was amazed at the children, they were fantastic brave little climbers, compared to a few of us adults, and they probably kept us calmer than we did them. With all said and done I was still incredibly proud of myself, and relieved to be back on the normal ground, although it was very odd walking on a solid floor, my brain and feet were still expecting the same spongy material as the walkway. The emotions that followed the climb came in waves, cheers, pride and achievement as we got the ground and as we put the climbing gear back, collected our bits and said goodbye to our new pals. Relief was the second wave to hit and it relaxed all and any tensions being held. Then came the tears, I couldn't help it, I got emotional, can't explain why, but I couldn't stop myself from shedding a tear or two. I did it guys, I tackled a fear, met new people and I helped to support a fabulous charity.

Update?
In this section I would like to say a massive THANK YOU, to everyone who donated, not only did you support me with this challenge, you donated to an incredible charity called POST PALS.
Also want to give a massive THANK YOU, to everyone at Post Pals for letting me climb, the well-organised event and making us all feel so welcome. Post Pals is a small Charity run solely by volunteers, created by Vikki George and friends who were all living in the hospital in 2012, even today Post Pals are run from beds and hospital beds. The charity started with a simple concept, a way for children in hospital to receive gifts, cards, letters, words of support and encouragement from the public. Since then Post Pals has grown, they still support children but they do so much more. We did the O2 Charity Climb as a way to Fundraise for a Weekend at Chessington World of Adventures for families with a seriously ill child. You can find out more about Post Pals and donate by heading to the Post Pals Website or Just Giving Page.

Go Check Out Post Pals and see and the fabulous things they do!

 If for some reason (I haven't put you off) you also want to do the climb, head to Up at The O2 to find out more.

Thanks for Reading
xo
(I'll let you know as soon as th video is uploaded)
Enjoy Day 27? Why not catch up on Day 26?

Struggling with Mental Health?
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