I have been terrified of heights for a long, long time. On top of my natural aversion to them, I also get vertigo if I go more than three steps up in the air.
With all that in mind…
We’ve been working on moving all our “treasures” out of a storage unit in town into our new storage barn. There is a loft up above (actually two, one on each side of where the double doors open) so it was agreed upon that Captain Cavedweller would be the one to climb up there and arrange things.
<Let me digress a moment and state this: I believe people are either stuffers or packers. CC is a stuffer, cramming things into a space and moving on. I’m a packer. I want it to be tidy and organized and utilize every square inch of space (I inherited that from my dad. He can pack more stuff into a space than anyone I know while my mom is definitely a stuffer.). I think packers look at it as a puzzle, figuring out which piece goes where. Stuffers look at the empty space and all the things that need to go into it and stuff in all they can, hoping for the best. >
CC warned me after he’d stuffed the back of the loft with about half of what we both thought should fit there that I was going to have to climb up and rearrange everything.
“No, it’ll be fine,” I assured him, desperate to keep my feet on the ground.
He stuffed and crammed and jammed our “treasures” into the loft and when he finished, we still had a huge pile of things we wanted to put up there.
So yesterday, we both stood looking up into the loft, knowing what had to be done.
“I’ll get the ladder,” he said, hurrying outside to grab it before I could lock myself in the house and refuse to come out.
So after five minutes of promising me he’d hold the ladder and I could do it, I climbed up the ladder and rearranged the loft. Granted, I probably could have fallen out of the loft and not broken anything, but it is the thought of being on a ladder (actually, it’s the thought of coming down the ladder, up doesn’t bother me as much).
The loft is now tidy and organized with everything we wanted to get up there neatly tucked away (and a little room left over!).
It feels really good to have conquered my fear of heights – at least for one day! Wish me luck, because I know I’ll end up climbing up to do the other side of the loft.
What about you? Are you a stuffer or a packer?
Congratulations my courageous writer! I understand all too well having a fear of heights, among a few other fears. FYI, I am a packer!
Aw, thank you, Carol! So fun you are a packer, too! 🙂
Great post, Shanna! I’m a packer, and I like your metaphor that packers see…packing as a puzzle. This is what I do! I can see in my mind the space where all the stuff has to go and instinctively I know how the packing should be done 🙂 I also have a fear of heights! Open-backed steps, glass railings and elevators, helicopters, you name it and I easily get vertigo!
Oh, Alice, I’m sorry you have the same problems I do with heights! But how fun you see packing as a puzzle, too! I know just what you mean about seeing in your mind how everything will fit and then making it work! 🙂
I would put my money on you any day of the week! Fear is a nasty word. Good for you! I’m a packer. Everything has to have a place. Thank you for sharing!😀
Thank you, Cici, for your vote of confidence! Fear is a nasty thing. Nice to know another packer! ❤