Fear Of Heights

Are you scared of heights? Have a fear of heights? Fear of falling? Are you an Acrophobic?I was but I 'cured' it.

Funnily enough for being extremely tall I have always had a fear of heights, having the safety railings at knee height did not help matters either. As a child I would have nightmares that I was falling, I would wake up in a cold sweat many nights with the same falling dream.

Fear Of Heights? Are You Scared? I was.

So in my usual style I had to confront this fear of heights, and beat this weakness that may cause me troubles in my future stunt/acting career....

Now apparently pschologists claim the best way to beat a fear (Acrophobia in this specific case) is with Graded Exposure Therapy.

Graded Exposure Therapy is where you get introduced to circumstances little by little. Patients create a list of difficult height situations. They then go to the easiest height first and stay there until they desensitise, then move onto more difficult situations (ie higher)

Lol... psychologists...

Here's the Conan Stevens way to defeat  your fear of heights... How do I know it works? Because it is what I did...

First find a suitably high place...

Scared Of Falling? 

A high cliff edge would be suitable, preferrably somewhere higher than helicopters fly...

Looking DOWN at an airborne helicopter is a good starting position

Then grab some mates who do not have a fear of heights...

World Champion Parachutists And Stuntmen Are Ideal

In this case we were going to Abseil off a 50 meter (164 ft) cliff at Diamond Bay (near Dover Heights) in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. In this instance I was talked into the idea ("Hey want ot come abseiling with us on Sunday" me - "Yeah that sounds great") by my good mate Rodd Millner from Aussie Abseiling, who holds several world skydiving records and was actually going to be the first man to skydive from space except for 9/11 happened at the time he was in preparation and everything was cancelled.

* As a side note Rodd was in New York when 9/11 happened to do interviews with TV stations and talk shows, some of these interviews are still available around the 'net. When the disaster occured Rodd jumped into help and ended up commanding his own unit of volunteers in the rescue operation.

 

Rodd Millner From Aussie Abseiling Pty Ltd

Rodd has been abseiling now for over 20 years, the version we are doing here is face first, otherwise known as Australian Abseiling named so because it was Australian Special Forces that developed this technique and that is whom Rodd learned it from.

Next thing you need to do is go to the edge, look over and crap yourself, especially if you have a fear of heights.

 

Still Having Your Fear Of Heights?

Then you go over, and do your best to control your fall and get down in one piece, the adrenaline kicks in and you are no longer scared of the height.

Going Over The Edge

Fear Of Heights Defeated?

*As a safety note I am not wearing a helmet as I am stunt training for an upcoming movie role, whereas everyone else was abseiling training and were wearing helmets as a safety precaution.

Did I Beat My Fear Of Heights?

Watch the video below for a self interview directly after I landed at the bottom...