While I’m on hiatus from perpetual travel this summer in Smalltown, Florida, USA, my goal is to catch up on writing, start a book proposal and be more proactive about the opportunities I’m pursuing. I’m getting there, slowly but surely, thanks in part to the fact that there’s very little to do in my town, aside from the occasional biblical flood.
Then I discovered Trapeze High Florida.
I heard from a friend a few weeks ago that there was a new trapeze school 15 minutes’ drive from our house. Though I’ve famously already tried, and semi-disliked, trapeze in NYC, I wanted to give it another whirl to see if maybe the second time would be the charm.
I recruited a couple of partners, my 26-year-old daredevil brother Alex, and our family friend Dawn, and we signed up for a Sunday afternoon class. Note: in Florida, that’s probably the least intelligent thing to do. Try for a morning or evening class if you can to avoid sweating to death.
Alex took to the trapeze like he does to everything adventurous – with no rise in heart rate, no butterflies and no worries. The friendly Trapeze High staff gave us simple instructions and before either of us realized it (and maybe with a gentle nudging off the platform for me), we were flying through the air with the greatest of ease!
Alex’s heart rate may not have been elevated, but I was still hesitant and shaking like a leaf throughout the 90 minute lesson, even though I’d done all the same moves before in New York and should’ve been cool as a cucumber.
You know how we talked about my FOMO and how it makes me do things I don’t necessarily want to do? Chalk this up to that growing list.
If I’ve learned anything in the past 18 months of RTW travel it’s that sometimes you have to suck it up and do the scary activity to get the best stories, and giving the trapeze another swing was another example of how that theory manifests itself in my life all the time.
I was surprised at how nervous I was all over again, but equally surprised at how the moves came back so easily. I had no trouble remembering what to do, and I found the second time was easier just because there were no surprises. I already knew how to do a catch, so it was no big thing to do it again.
The hardest part for me is always going to be climbing the ladder and jumping off the platform!
Trapeze High Florida was a much more mellow experience than the one I had in NYC. Safety was still paramount, of course, but the vibe wasn’t one of danger or urgency or serious sport, but more about having fun and conquering fears… in my case, again!
I think the three of us who participated are a good cross-section of what a typical experience could be like; Dawn didn’t love it, I loved it much more once it was all over, and Alex nailed it, loved it and was awesome from the beginning.
If you find yourself in the Jacksonville, Fla., area with a hankering to fly, get in touch with Mark at Trapeze High Florida, or call 904-524-2438.
