How did you overcome your fear of heights?

I've been afraid of heights for as long as I can remember. Stepping down from the bottom rung of a ladder could freak me out. I worked in landscaping for a while, during which I was required to climb walls, trees, and trellises. A few years ago I had an epiphany, much like this quote: “Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” -- Jim Morrison I decided to embrace climbing. I began indoors on a climbing wall in a gym, and worked my way outside on steeper climbs, on ice and rock and snow, and eventually, just from constant repeated exposure I began to lose some of my fear, or maybe my fear lost its edge. Eventually I was able to control my response to the fear that is supposed to protect me and help me make wise decisions with the risk of falling. I'm still somewhat afraid, but now I know what I can and can't manage to do in spite of my fear. Falling while ice climbing in Ouray Colorado (red jacket center)

When up high and enclosed, falling from the high place is impossible. Even so, fear of being up high can develop. If in an airliner, we may fear the plane will fall. Or, we may feel too disconnected from the earth where our most basic means of controlling feelings using our own two feet to approach what interests us and to back away from what frightens us.What about fear of high places when not enclosed? In some cases it involves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception, the brain’s unconscious sense of body-in-space orientation. Five systems help us sense where we are are in relation to the environment and objects in the environment, moving or static:inner ear: senses the position of the head, the pull of gravity, accelerationeyes: distance to objects; placement of objects, size of the environmenttouch: varies site on the body provide a sense of balancesmell: distance and direction of objectshearing: distance and direction of objects. If any of these systems are not informing us, our sense of body-in-space and of our body in relation to objects is lessened. Diminished orientation, particularly in an insecure environment, may cause us to feel disturbed.Vision tends to be our primary sense of spacial and object orientation. At times it is the primary we maintain our balance. To be useful to maintain our balance - and to give us a sense of orientation in space - the eyes need something  within thirty feet  to use as a reference. Our eyes are spaced slightly  apart. To see things that are close, the eyes slightly cross. To see things farther away, they cross less. The amount of crossing is sensed unconsciously. When we focus - and cross - when looking at an object, if  we start to go off balance toward it, we cross a bit more. We sense that and automatically correct. If we start to go off balance and to lean away from it, we cross a bit less. Similarly, we sense that and automatically correct our balance. Meanwhile, we may sense a change in the amount of weight on the ball of the foot versus the heel.When  we are up high, such as on the top of a building, when we look out, there is nothing within thirty feet (the eyes don't cross or uncross enough past thirty feet for us to sense it). But you still need to balance. Up high, the need to balance may be urgent. Your eyes try to help you keep your balance. They search out, find nothing, and then search closer, find nothing, search out, find nothing, search in, find nothing. This can cause you to feel dizzy, and more disoriented. Just when you need your balance most, your eyes run into difficulty. As your eyes search in and out, they throw your balance off, cause fear of falling, and fear of being out of control.Another  source of fear of heights may be dreams of flying, as in Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, and The Flying Nun. These characters have delighted us in stories offlying - not with a plane - but just bodily. Captain Truman Cummings, whostarted the first course on fear of flying at Pan Am in 1975,  said thatmost pilots have fear of heights - not when enclosed in the cockpit - but when not enclosed. He  believed pilots have such dreams more than most people. Thus, when pilots are up high and unenclosed, a past dream of floating delightfully  across the sky emerges. As it does, the wish to follow the dream sets off alarms. The desire to leap is frightening. Leaping seemed attractive. What if the desired had been acted on? "How close was I to doing so? Am I, or am I not, in control?" The  fantasy - when separated from reality - is delightful. But, the possibility of jumping -  actually doing do - is terrifying. We had the urge to jump. Obeying this urge would have been fatal. This kind of "near miss" with death  is one possible cause of the fear of high open http://spaces.So, if you have fear of heights, cut yourself some slack about it. It may be nothing more than the result  of dreams of flying like Mary Poppins. Or, it may be the result of completely normal reduced proprioception due to nothing within thirty feet.If fear of heights is due to dreams or reduced proprioception, it means nothing when it comes to fear of flying. What does count when flying is knowing that there issomething holding the plane up. To the emotional right brain, which uses visuallogic, seeing is believing. If nothing can be seen holding the plane up, it seemsthere is no way for the plane will stay http://up.To cure that, we need to satisfy the left brain intellectually by understanding http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/fluids/airfoil.html.  We also need to satisfy the right brain emotionally by picturing there is something holding the plane up. For that, I offer a video of "http://www.fearofflying.com/free-video/jello-exercise.shtmlMore at https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/conquer-fear-flying/201602/fear-high-places-whats-it-aboutat Psychology Today

During an MBA program, one of the teams presented on the fitness industry. Each team member researched and spoke about a different segment of the industry. Rock and indoor climbing was one of the segments that was presented.I was afraid of exposed heights like ladders, ledges, etc. so as she described climbing in a gym and on rocks, I was intrigued but my reaction was, "Nope!"After I graduated, I started at a new job. My third or fourth day, I happened to drive by an indoor climbing gym called Planet Granite. This gym was specifically mentioned by the presenter so I turned around and went to the gym to find out more information.I signed up for a class and spent the next 3 years climbing a lot at the gym and occasionally on rocks. It was terrifying and exhilarating. I loved it. I've never cared much for working out but climbing at the gym was different because climbing involves both your body and your mind. Climbing is analytical. It involves problem-solving as you decide how to climb the route and it involves controlling your body to make the moves necessary to top the route. The use of body and mind was a great combination for me.A climbing gym is a highly-controlled environment and climbing protocol helps ensure safety. What I found interesting was how falling was instrumental in helping me overcome my fear of heights. I learned to trust the gear, my belayer (the person on the other side of the rope whose job it is to keep the rope tight) and the rules of climbing so that falling was no longer terrifying and usually fun.I don't climb anymore because I accomplished my goal of overcoming the fear and I wanted to spend my time on other endeavors.The only way to overcome a fear is to confront it. For me, a climbing gym was a perfect way to overcome my fear of heights and falling.

I've been climbing for several years now.  My first multi-pitch climbs (up many hundreds of feet, attached to the wall by absurdly strong hardware that seemed unreasonably compact and teeny) were an exercise in just dealing with the fact that my brain is good at imagining the awful what-ifs that could be. So, being at height really required me to focus on what I was doing (and not on that great yawning abyss below) and manage my urge to  panic.   Over time, with much repetition and success, the heebie-jeebies just aren't  as bad as they once were- the response attenuates all on its own.  It's still scary, but not terrible-scary.  It's become the kind of reminds-you-you're-alive scary that's even somewhat enjoyable to go dance on the edge of.   Climb.  Be safe.  It will be scary, but as you repeatedly experience success and failure and the worst thing you're afraid of doesn't happen, the grip your fear once had on you will weaken.  Go through it, and it'll reveal itself to be a paper tiger.   By the way, this approach also works for speaking in public.  Do it.  Live.  It gets better.

Yes it is while there are more gradual techniques I prefer the method known as flooding. Basically you get on a ladder and look down. It's a tough method but eventually you will get tired of being afraid and then you won't be anymore. You could also sit on a balcony or rent a high up hotel room and look out the window. I used the ladder method myself just remember this isn't about going up with what you are comfortable with instead go up until you are really uncomfortable. You could also set goals for yourself like if I can be up on the 3rd or 5 rung for five minutes then I'll treat myself to a nice dinner. Of course you may prefer to talk with a licensed therapist about your options.