Sometimes in life we participate in an activity that is just asking to be a metaphor for life itself. This week I partook of one such metaphor when I went zip lining at the new Tree Limin’ Extreme zip line course over looking Megan’s and Hull Bay here on St Thomas.
My fellow zippers and I started out getting safety equipment on and briefed on how to handle the zip line, just as we are given the equipment and believes by our parents on how to handle life once we reach adulthood. Once that was done we boarded a mid 70’s Swiss Army transport and, just like sometimes in life, we had to traverse a steep and arduous ride in order to reach the top of the mountain.
From here we had one of those moments in life where you strap in and take a plunge not knowing exactly what to expect. As I went racing along the cables, the excitement was palatable and I never wanted it to end. But as we all know, life can not be one long uninterrupted feeling of ecstasy. Otherwise we would knot appreciate how wonderful it can be. With that said, the first zip ended before I really fully engulfed the whole experience and I was at a lull standing on a platform as everyone else joined me.
Waiting there was like having met a new woman, with which you feel a spark, and you know you have to be patient and let everything happen as it needs to so you can allow the spark to grow, and the harness be strapped to the next zip line. All the while all you want to do is jump headfirst into the relationship and fly along the zip line again with your feet out in front of you and your arms raised over your head.
Once we reached the next platform we had to walk across a precarious feeling, yet perfectly safe bridge, to get to the third platform. This is no different than many of the decisions we make in life. For example changing jobs or buying a house. The metaphorical bridges to our decisions can be longer or shorter depending on the event they are spanning, but in the end we are usually in a better place and able to take in the magnificent view. In this case out over Megan’s Bay, which is the nicest beach in the USVI and can compete with most in the world.
Even though in life there are many, many thrill defining moments zipping along spaced with steady, calm, quite platforms where you can reflect upon your experiences and what may lie before you. On this zip line course there are a total of six zip lines and two bridges before you get to the Yo-Yo. This is the tallest platform you slide off of and the cable is much looser, so you plummet down and then make a large upward arc to the other end where you end up going backwards along the same path. Back and forth you go until you finally rest in the center of the cable happily hanging there until the platform is moved to you. If this is not symbolic of life’s twists and turns, as you go one way and then the next until you find your calm, then I don’t know what to tell you.
I had a wonderful time on the Tree Limin’ Extreme zip line course and I hope if you are in St Thomas, hopefully aboard the Guiding Light :), you take the opportunity to participate in this fantastic experience.