I wasn't always afraid of heights, but at some point in my adult life I become extremely fearful of heights. Know that scene in "the matrix" where Keanu's character jumps from a rooftop to a building way across the way?...seeing the heights on a tv screen made me feel all oogy.
Yesterday we took the girls to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. My oldest was scared a terrorist was going to fly a plane into the building while we were on top. my youngest was afraid an earthquake would cause the building to collapse.
Initially I told my wife that I would stay in the lobby while she took the girls up, but then I said to myself, what kind of example am I setting herE?...
So I went up to the top.
At first I clung to the inner walls of the observation deck, but little by little..I was able to go to the outerwalls and see the view
I'm so proud of myself for having overcome my fear...

Have you always been afraid of something only to overcome it?

i'm afraid of women. it's a work in progress.

Good for you!

I'm afraid of heights too so last year I decided to abseil down a building in Canary Wharf. I cried in the lift on the way up, I was shaking all the way down and swore and screamed quite a lot. But I did it!

I suppose I proved to myself that I can do stuff i'm scared of. Every now and again I like to do something that frightens me. Next on my list is a sky-dive.

Congratulations!

I am terrified of heights, too... I completely lost it on the cable car thing going across the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. I kept imagining the cable snapping and plummeting to the ground...

I need to do what you did. The closest I came was at a friend's apartment near Times Square. When she opened the door, the first thing I saw was glass everywhere! All the windows are ceiling-to-floor, and the drapes were all open. You could practically see all over the City! I got so dizzy I stayed in the middle of the room!
Another friend convinced me to walk to the window and check out the view. I still felt weird, but I did it- for a few minutes.

BlackAdder, assuming you've not yet done this, what might be particularly cool in terms of setting an example is letting your daughters know that, in fact, you too were nervous about going up... but you went up anyway.

We often put up a front like we're unafraid of everything. I think that's fairly worthless. It's when you are afraid, but, as you say, you face the fear and conquer it, that there's something really teachable going on.

Spiders, yeah scared me no matter the size I'd scream and run causing my kids to laugh their asses off. Now I can stare down a spider and kill the suck, unless it should be a very big one

whistle said:

I got the cure for that.

I've always shied away from doing musicals because I thought I didn't sing very well. I took the first step toward conquering it by just diving in headlong...and doing a musical.

I did a smart thing by choosing a musical directed by someone I trust - who I knew wouldn't let me look stupid. During rehearsals, I kept low-balling myself - qualifying every take with, "Well, I'm not really a singer..." Finally, the choreographer got up in my face and said, "You need to quit saying that. Because you are a singer. No, you don't have a trained voice - but for what you're doing, it's perfect."

Not only have I not died from singing in front of people...I've actually gotten a fairly good reception. And in a show where my character sings a song that is anything but easy.