Looking back to when she agreed to participate in the annual Toss the Boss fundraiser, Barb Long realises she may not have been aware of all the salient details of the activity.
"I didn’t expect to abseil off the blooming stadium — I thought it was just a roof.
"I’m terrified of heights."
The Corstorphine Baptist Community Trust chief executive officer was one of about 30 community leaders who faced their fear of heights and abseiled from the roof of Forsyth Barr Stadium yesterday to raise money for Southern Youth Development (SYD).
"When I got up there, I had the sweats, I was shaking and I was thinking, ‘This is seriously too high and I can’t do this’.
"I was pretty scared."
It was only because people had sponsored her more than $6270 to do it she stepped off the edge and went through with it, she said.
"People were counting on me to do it.
"I agreed to do it for two reasons. The first is I really, really support the work that SYD does, because I know the outcomes that their programmes have on young people.
"The other is, I’ve been in my current role for 10 years and I thought it would be a good way to celebrate that."
"I feel like I’ve achieved something by putting myself out of my comfort zone.
"And that’s a good thing — that’s what we ask our young people to do.
"If we expect our young people to do things that are really uncomfortable for them, then we should be able to model that ourselves."
By the time she reached the bottom, there was a short moment when she felt pleased with her achievement, she said.
"I did enjoy it. I was giddy with relief."
She had never done anything like that before, and had absolutely no plans to do it again, she said.
"It’s someone else’s turn next year. I’m not doing that again. Ever."
