There I was. I was settling into my seat and debating whether I still wanted to go through with my decision. The worker was buckling everyone and securing everyone’s seatbelts before we began. I had my counselor seated behind me and my friends seated in front of me. I was holding on to the last bit of uneasiness that I had in my body and tried to release it before the engines of the cart shot me out into the unknown. My counselor, Connor tried to keep me calm, as he knew that I was quite apprehensive.

I can still recollect vividly in my memories going to Disney World for the first time when I was six years old. One of the first rides that my family and I went on was the Dr. Seuss ride. I can still picture the inside of that ride with all of its colors and drawings on the wall. The next thing that I knew, I was being jarred and jolted every which way in the cart. I can still remember bursting into tears in the middle of the ride and yelling about how much I hated it. From that day forward, I knew that I never wanted to go on any ride ever again.

I had never been on a roller coaster before and I was 15 years old. I had an aversion to something that provided joy and happiness to many children. I was in Disney World in Orlando, Florida with my camp. It was my 10th grade summer, my last summer as a camper. I had never been a fan of going on any rides nor anticipated that I would even go on a roller coaster during that trip. I had to admit that some of these trips were futile especially for someone who abhors rides in general.

It was the third day of the trip and we had been spending most of our time in the amusement parks. We had gone to Disney World and Universal Studios and I was miserable because there was not much for me to do there. It wasn’t until I decided to go on a myriad of water rides where I realized that I could endure much more than a few sudden drops, and gained confidence. All of my friends noticed that I was fine after all of those water rides and knew that I would be able to tolerate a roller coaster.

They bombarded me with confidence building remarks and kept convincing me that I would be able to endure the thrill of riding a roller coaster. They insisted that these roller coasters weren’t even that bad and that if I could handle all of those water rides, then I could easily overcome this obstacle of riding a roller coaster. My mind kept reverting back to that Dr. Seuss ride where I felt nauseous and nearly threw up.

The time had finally come where we continued to wander around the park and ended up in Space Mountain. There were signs posted everywhere saying ‘Caution, do not ride if you are prone to motion sickness.’ Those signs just made me want to avoid that roller coaster even more. After waiting a while, we were finally at the front of the line. To my friends’ dismay, I just told my counselor that I did not want to go on. The worker escorted me to an exit where I waited for everyone to get off the ride.

While waiting at the bottom of the roller coaster, I noticed the pictures that were taken. Everyone that I saw looked like they were having a blast and my group was no different as I saw them getting out of their seats with giant smiles on their faces. The first thing that they said when they saw me was that I missed out. I could not have felt any worse than I did at that moment. It was my last year at this camp and probably the last time that I was going to see all of them. It was time to make some memories that would last a lifetime.

A few hours later, my group and I continued to stroll through the park. We took a break from all the excitement and went into an ice cream shop. Once there, we cooled off and relaxed as the cool air of the shop slapped us in the face. Moments later, someone pointed out that we had not used our fast passes yet. It was by unanimous decision that the group chose to ride Space Mountain again. I knew that this was my chance for redemption.
We departed from the ice cream shop and headed over to Space Mountain. I could not help but to ask everyone what it was like. I must have asked one million questions on the way over there, as I was still uneasy. Just seconds later they asked me abruptly one question. The question was, ‘Are you going to give it a shot this time.’ I could not provide an answer quick enough, where I found myself buried under that one question. I said that I would have to mentally prepare myself first, which was the biggest lie of my life.

We ran into the ride and I had no time to think. We had used our fast passes and before I knew it, I was strapped in and there was no way out. My heart was racing faster than the speed of light. I gripped onto the side of the shuttle to the point where my knuckles turned white. Before I knew it, I was launched into the darkness of the ride. I could not see anything aside from the people in front of me and behind me. I can remember yelling at the top of my lungs during the ride. My counselor was having the time of his life laughing hysterically while continuing to ask if I was okay. Before I knew it, it was over. My throat could not have felt drier from yelling so much! I found my picture on the monitor and I was smiling like a fool. All of my friends asked me how I felt and all I could manage to say was thirsty.

The escalator then took us up to ground level where I bought a bottle water and was contemplating whether that was the best moment of my life or not. A huge burden had been lifted off of my shoulder. I did it. It was right then and there that I had overcome my obstacle and unmasked the new me.