Good Morning Friends!!
As I write to you this morning Kim and I have already spent a couple days in Paris and are on our second day in Germany. So many things I could share with you, from visiting the burned Notre Dame, to seeing the Arc de Triomphe, to seeing nudist in Munich’s Englischer Garten, and so much more.
Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower is the experience I would like to share with you this morning. We had tickets that would allow us to explore all the way to the very top. We first stopped at the second floor to walk around and look at all the wonderful landmarks we had experienced the day before but now from a different angle. Once our time on the second floor had ended we took the elevator all the way to the top of the tower. We all squeezed in the elevator, it seems in Paris they like to have small elevators and pack as many people in them as possible, as our elevator started moving to the top I realized this elevator was a glass elevator which allowed you to look out as we ascended the tower. One fact you should know about me is that I am extremely frightened of heights. I was holding on for dear life to the handle with my eyes closed, thinking to myself, how in the world am I going to get off this elevator at the top of the Eiffel Tower. The doors of the elevator opened and I shakenly stepped off. I looked around and there was a cage all the way around and I was safe. There was no way I was going to fall off the top of the Eiffel Tower like had gone through my mind the entire elevator ride to the top.
How many times are our experiences like my ride to the top of the Eiffel Tower? We get in the elevator excited to go somewhere and then we realize looking all around how scared we are. We want to get off before the doors close. We can’t breath in the crowded space. We can visualize ourselves failing or falling off at our destination. All of these things keep us from stepping in. If we will only step in and let the doors close, take a breath because the crowd will not take all of our air, open our eyes just slightly on the way to the top, grab the bars a little tighter because it will make us feel safe, and when the doors open…step out.
When you face all those fears and step out way above the crowd below you realize fear was holding you back from the most magnificent view you could have ever imagined. If you had not faced those fears you would not have been able to experience what you are capable of.
I challenge myself and you this week to use our fears to drive us from our comfort zones so that we may experience the majestic view awaiting at the top of our individual towers.
Aaron