Not far from where we used to live is a river, and on the river is a nice deep pool of water alongside a cliff. One day I decided to climb the cliff and jump into this pool. I had never done it before and I had never seen anyone else jump from here either. However legend has it that this particular pool is very deep and many people have jump from the cliff. So I headed down to the river, filled with nervous excitement. I stood at the bottom of the cliff and looked up trying to decide where I would jump from, the water was dark and you could not see the bottom. I decided to start climbing and look for a place to jump from once I was up there. As I started climbing I noticed that I was on a faint path, and you could see, if you looked really closely that other had climbed this same route. I stopped and looked down, I was terrified, I have a fear of heights and now here I am climbing up a cliff about to jump off. I was nervous I stood on the edge looking down into the pool and something inside me said don’t jump from here, go higher. I stepped back and could not believe I was climbing up higher once again. I climbed up a section and suddenly realized that I would not be able to climb back down safely. I had no rope, no one to help or guide me from below, it was just me and the cliff. I was terrified and pictured myself stranded on the cliff hoping someone may spot me. I look around and just above me was a old dead tree not much thicker than my arm. I decided to climb to the tree. Once I got to the tree I noticed how the base of this dead tree was “polished”. I looked down into the water and saw that I was standing at the spot where people have jumped from before. It was far higher than I imagined, and you had to jump out to clear a little ledge before hitting the pool. I could feel the adrenalin pumping, it seemed as if the whole world had come to a standstill, not even the birds made a sound. I stood there and I saw the way off the cliff, it required a leap of faith. I could not step off the edge I had to jump out. The water below was black, I imagined what may be under the surface of the water, was it deep enough, what if a branch has washed down I land on it when I jump. There is no one here, nobody even knows I am here. I turned and look at the cliff I had just climbed. I could try climb back down I thought, I would get scratched, bruised, I may even fall but I will survive if I climb back down and my body will heal. All of a sudden that seemed like the best way out, just climb back down. I thought about it and it was the safest way, it made sense and I liked the idea of been able to walk out the valley back to my car far more than the fears I had conjured up looking down into the water far below. Walk down and come back when you have someone here with you said my mind. I let go of the branch and turned to start climbing down when the reality of what I was about to do hit me. I was facing my fear and letting it control me. My body would get down but my spirit would be crushed, fear would come back and haunt me. I looked back down into the water stood on the edge and I jumped. I jumped as far as I could, My heart stopped as I saw the ledge passing by and I felt my body drop. No turning back. What will be will be. I hit the water and went under, I forgot to take a breath and started panicking. I scratched to get to the surface, the water was freezing my lungs were burning and I was terrified. I surfaced and filled my lungs. I came up with a clear vision, it was like the scales were taken off my eyes and I looked out at a new world. I was alive, I screamed, and the echo screamed back. I swam to the middle of the pool floated on my back staring at the sky and screamed once again. A victory cry, I faced my fear, stood on the cliff and took a leap of faith and I lived. Walking back to my car I realized that I did not even have a scratch, jumping was the easiest way down, I could have climbed down but I would have left a part of me on that cliff. I was whole, I was alive, I could take on anything, life was good.