Don't look down!

It was still early days, maybe my 3rd or 4th month of travelling and I'd made it to the south of the South Island of New Zealand. New Zealand: The Land of the White Cloud, Aotearoa... for many, the land of adventure. Up to this point, my travels had involved visiting beauty spots, long hikes, meeting friends and family who lived in Australia, meeting strangers who were travelling at the same time or who lived where I lay my head and a little too much alcohol. It was all incredible, there were some dangerous moments and although, there was often trepidation, nothing had truly scared me enough to stop me taking it on in the first place. Until now.

The Canyon

A canyon is a deep, narrow valley with steep sides. “Canyon” comes from the Spanish word "ca?on", which means “tube” or “pipe.” according to National Geographic. A canyon is often beautiful. It's a sight for sore eyes, a place to visit if you want to surround yourself with nature, a place to admire, respect and be thankful for. A canyon is not a children's playground and therefore, it's probably not the kind of place you should attach a swing to or through but that's what they did. That's what they did.

Here's what I did

You probably know what's coming but let me tell you why. Before I left for my travels, I had made a decision to say yes to more, partly based on a conversation with a good friend, that you can read about in "Tiny Massive Moments" It wasn't a "yes" to everything situation but it was a "yes" to anything that offered a great reward, that outweighed the risk. The Canyon Swing offered the potential for exhilaration, the potential to overcome a huge fear and the potential to have a story that could be told for years to come. The risk was minimal. Almost nobody had ever died or even been injured. I made my way to the swing's location and dragged my seemingly heavier by the minute legs up to the starting point.

Backwards

"Stefano, right, how do you want to jump?"

"Erm... what? Oh... Backwards, I'll go backwards"

"Brave man, you've chosen one of the scariest"

Why do things by halves, I guess. I knew I would probably be having to clean my underwear, either way by the end so I might as well go all the way in. I'm sure they're trained to play with your emotions as they calmed me down with nonsense chat but never let me get too comfortable. After their first fake push, my heart almost stopped but it took me out of my own head for long enough that they could let me go. That initial scream of fear quickly turned into a shout of elation, before I stopped, hanging in a state of euphoria between some of nature's most spectacular achievements.

Something even scarier

Once I had experienced those feelings for the first time, I knew, I couldn't stop there. I had to go again. The fear had almost disappeared as I made my way back to the top but as they moved me into a new position for this drop, it quickly came back. They said that this one was the scariest of all and they weren't wrong. I was propelled over the cliff, being held up by a harness and I was told to swing my legs above my head. It was then time to drop my arms below me in a way that forced me to look down. Maybe the best way for you to experience it is to watch. Here's the video again so you don't have to scroll back to the top. Turn up the volume!

Doing something that scares you

You've probably heard people say "do something that scares you every day." I'm not sure how many people really live that reality but there is power in challenging yourself to do something you would never normally dream of. A few of the amazing guests in the first series of the Storytelling with Puck Podcast had never been on a podcast before and it scared them. They joined me anyway and they've all said that they're glad they did. They shared stories that connected with others on a deeper level and although, most of their stories had nothing to do with business, many of them built relationships with potential new clients by showing people who they are.

A tale of two series

Series 2 will be starting soon and I, for one, can't wait but before all of that, we'll be having a little launch event. On June 30th, our Series 1 guests will be sharing new stories to get you in the mood for a plethora of wonderful storytellers in Series 2. We'd love it if you watched the launch live and you can find out all of the details by joining the LinkedIn event.

We'll be back next week

If you can't wait until then, you can find more from Puck Creations by checking out King Puck's Wisdom and you can listen to every podcast released so far by visiting our Puck Podcast page. See you soon.