Maya Garaway Week 1: To Miss the Fear of Flying

 8/30/21


Almost any student will agree that there is something about summer that we miss. For some people, they would miss not having any schoolwork or being able to sleep in late. I do agree with that and I also miss that, but what I miss the most is being on the trapeze and my aerial classes.


Over the summer, I worked as a trapeze counselor at the JCC… without much prior experience in trapeze. I've done other circus-like activities like silks and lyra, but the trapeze was new and exciting. The job position opened up and immediately I began asking to help out. It has always been something I have wanted to try and I believed that I had the skills for it. 


The second I stepped onto that ladder to go on the trapeze, I felt that feeling of exhilaration. To be able to climb a slightly unsteady ladder up to a tiny shaky platform and then jump takes a lot of bravery and gives a feeling that you can't get from many other situations. Trapeze gives you the chance to overcome your fears. Whether the fear is just climbing the ladder or trying a new trick without safety lines, it just feels so rewarding when you just try. 


There's a lot that I miss from this experience. I miss being able to try new tricks every day and specifically that feeling you get while swinging. It feels as if you just float at a certain point during the swing. I miss being able to improve my strength and skill, but I also miss the people I worked with. They were all so skilled at trapeze and helped in whatever way they could. It was always exciting working at the trapeze. I would walk back from the lunch break and never know if Joe and Spider would be trying a crazy new trick or if Austin would be sitting on the net with an iguana. 


Even though the summer is over, I am hoping to find a trapeze studio that I can take lessons at and continue trying to improve and conquer more fears. 


What are some things that scare you and would you ever try something like trapeze?

Comments

  1. AnonymousAug 31, 2021, 8:42:00 PM

    To be honest with you, I have a huge fear of heights, so just reading you describe the ladder as "unsteady", and the platform as "tiny" and "shaky" made me feel anxious. Deep inside I would love to try something like trapeze, but I know I have to conquer my height fear before even attempting to do it. I was wondering how you were able to climb up that ladder and jump of that platform holding on to a tiny bar? Were you nervous? If you were what did you do to make yourself less scared and just do it?

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  2. AnonymousAug 31, 2021, 10:45:00 PM

    I would try something like the trapeze, it seems fun. I am more afraid of things like zombies rather than heights and climbing up the shaky ladder. I also worked as a counselor but not one like this. I wish the camp I worked at offered experiences like this, I would have loved to try it.

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  3. AnonymousSep 8, 2021, 7:28:00 PM

    Even though I have been on the trapeze already in the past, I had not been on since 2018 and was nervous myself. I had never been scared of the trapeze before, but my sister fell off of the trapeze the last time I was at camp and I did not want something like that to happen to me. However, with your encouragement (and a little bit of peer pressure) I did it again and loved it! After hearing about my sister's fall, I wonder what gives you the desire to keep going back on the trapeze despite the risks? Would you ever consider a full time profession involving trapeze?

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