Have you ever ziplined? I have and it’s scary.
At first, you sign up for the course and you’re so excited but also a bit removed from the whole idea of it. You don’t fully realize what you’re about to do until you’re hooked up to a hundred harnesses and look down to see thousands of feet of open air.
I exaggerate, but still, it’s terrifying! To look down and see all that space between you and the floor, knowing that if the line breaks and you fall, there is nothing going to save you.
But then you go, or the course instructor pushes you, and you zip down that line! You scream and close your eyes, feeling the wind against you as you pass through the canopy, barely daring to unclench your hand on your harness.
But that open air becomes fun soon after you start, you look around and see the scenery, you relax your hands and breathe calmly. Once you get to the next platform, you look to the next line and smile. You aren’t afraid anymore.
My experience with the Panther Press was as if I was surprised with a ziplining adventure with my good friends, so I faked my confidence until I looked down at the distance between where I stood and the ground below.
I joined the paper on a whim, to help my best friend Julia Gray out, and I had absolutely no clue what I was getting myself into. No idea how to go through an interview, how to format my stories, and no clue that I would become an editor.
But after my first jump, my first article where I had a shaky interview that I forgot to record and was given hundreds of edits on my tone, I got used to the rhythm.
I got used to the process of emails and interviews and photos and writing, and I loved it. Not just because I learned about the ins and outs of journalism, but because I got to enjoy the company of an amazing team while doing so.
Never in a million years would I think I’d be comparing ziplining to a school newspaper, but I also didn’t think I’d be an editor of said school newspaper.
Ziplining is scary and journalism is scary, but you have to do scary things in order to get to that next platform. Before you get to the next terrifying jump, you have to take that first step. The jumps become easier, you can learn to relax your hands, to breathe in the air, and to get zipping.
