A Narrative of How I Overcame My Fears of Amusement Parks and Water Parks
All my life, I despised roller coasters, rides, fairs, waterslides, etc. Basically, anything that moves at an accelerated pace and wasn’t a form of transportation, I was petrified of. The thought of going on a rollercoaster, slowly but surely picking up speed, seeing the hundreds of feet below me, then dropping at an astonishing rate made me sick to my stomach. Along with sliding down a waterslide and feeling my lungs clench as the speed increases made my heart race. It all was horrible in my eyes.
My severe motion sickness is what prevented me from having a great time. I’d go to carnivals and festivals with my friends, yet I wouldn’t go on any of the rides. I would stick with the games where you’d win a prize for popping a certain number of balloons at a time. But, at Camelbeach Mountain Water Park, it all changed. I went to the waterpark with my summer camp group, which included three of my closest friends.
The day was warm and sunny. I could feel the sweat drip down my forehead as we walked out of that yellow school bus crammed with kids like a can of sardines. The bus was hot, and random plastic water bottles were commonly spotted on the floor.
Getting out of the bus felt like wild animals being released from captivity, and seeing the outside world for the first time in a while. Taking the step onto the sidewalk felt relieving. Being on a moving bus for an hour isn’t exactly the best thing in the world.
We walked into the area with all the tables. We set all of our backpacks, towels, sunscreen, and lunches down, then started walking into the main area. All I saw when I looked up were these gigantic water slides. Some were only half enclosed, and when people went on it they could see the outside, and some were fully enclosed, and going in the slide would mean a lot or total darkness. Seeing the range of colors when I looked up made my stomach drop. My heart started racing, terrified of how tall they were. “Hey, look at those water slides,” my friend Jasmine yelled, “they look so fun!” I disagreed. They looked terrifying.
One could see the people in the slides that were half open, zooming around as water splashed everywhere. Again, my hands were shaking in nervousness about what could happen minutes later. We were finally up close to all of the slides, and we were told to go on only the slides in the certain area because the counselors didn’t want anyone getting lost. In front of me were these huge four water slides. The one my eyes first looked at was a red half enclosed slide. Its turns were smooth, which made me feel a little better if I was going to even consider going on a slide. I couldn’t believe what was there in front of me. It was the biggest waterslide I’d ever seen; it made me feel very small in comparison. But the slide was a “just in case” sort of situation. “Come with me on the red waterslide, trust me it’ll be so fun!” my friend Mia exclaimed reassuringly. “No, it’s okay, I really don’t feel like it, I’ll stay here,” I replied, wishing that I didn’t have motion sickness. “No, you’re going on this slide, it’ll be okay. Maybe rollercoasters give you motion sickness, but I can assure you that a water slide won’t” Mia confidently stated. I decided it was time I did something amusement park/water park related. I was already thirteen, and that’s thirteen years of just standing in front of rollercoasters waiting for my friends to be done.
Every person I’d see going on waterslides and rollercoasters always had the best looks on their faces, and I felt like I was missing out on all of that. It was time I tried something new, for the sake of discovering new things. I walked with my friend Mia to get the donut floats in which we would be sitting in to go on the water slide. My heart began to race. I could feel my lungs clenching, as we walked up the stairs to get to the very top, and to the waterslide. Every step I took was more difficult than the other because it meant I was one step closer to going on the waterslide. We finally got to the top and were about to be pushed to go down the slide. My heart was beating so insanely fast, it was shocking. I was mentally preparing myself for what was about to happen. We started zooming down very fast. My hair was being blown around as I whizzed through the air, with the water splashing my face, and the wind hitting it too. I heard the “whoosh” noises that the wind made. The donut float went up the sides of the waterslide, then back down.
My heart was beating fast, but this time, it wasn’t from being nervous. I was having the time of my life as I was on the waterslide. All I could do was laugh and smile. I could feel all of my fears disappear, and instead, they were getting replaced with joy. It was now over, so Mia and I landed in the pool where the slide ended. I could not process what just happened. I had just gone on a very tall water slide, which goes very fast, for the first time. Most importantly, I was smiling with joy. I realized how silly my fear was. Millions of people go to amusement parks and water parks, and they have the time of their lives there. It was very important that I learned to take some small yet safe risks because I would definitely benefit from it. I had the most exciting and joyful day ever with my friends.
