Facing my fear of climbing on a roof

Getting on a pitched roof kind of freaks me out. I ride roller coasters, but I'm not really a huge fan of heights. And I work at a roofing company...

But this week I climbed on a roof on three separate days to take photos and videos. I told my boss that I didn't have my "roof legs" yet. So he and an experienced sales rep coached me on the approach and gave me a helping hand in going from the ladder to the roof.

On that first day, I was wobbly but managed. I filmed some social videos and took photos of our team inspecting the roof. On the way down, my boss held the ladder for extra peace of mind.

I went back to the job site the next day to film tear off. On that day, I figured out how to properly manage my photo gear up the ladder by pinning my double camera harness behind my back. I was pretty nervous the first time up the ladder, but I felt better with every ascent / descent as a switched from camera work to drone shots. No help needed.

I went back on the following day to capture installation when no one else was there but the crew. I felt fine walking all over the place (except getting too close to the eaves), even with the roof being just partially shingled.

Everyone was super helpful through this process—no one gave me a hard time about it. One of our sales managers even confessed that getting down the ladder is tricky for him, which made me feel a lot better about my own inhibitions, especially because he's on a roof pretty much every day. That transparency made me feel less like a weenie.

Even the job site superintendent said he doesn't like being on a steep pitch. His honesty helped me relax.

On the first day, I told my boss that the getting down was the part that scared me the most. "It should be," he said. "That's where 90% of accidents on ladders happen." That's a brutal stat, but straight honesty is more comforting than hollow affirmations.

Turns out that even the people who've done this every day for years still have a healthy sense of danger.

It's not a matter of "Are you scared of heights / Do you feel comfortable on a roof?"

It's a matter of whether you're willing to face the discomfort and learn the ropes.

This week opened things up for me in a big way, and here's what made the difference:

• helpful people who got me up on the roof in the first place
• people being honest about their own fears
• learning proper technique (even dangerous things can be safe if you know the right way to do it)
• trusting the footwear (Redwing moccasins with Vibram soles ftw)
• just doing the dang thing even though it was scary

The result is dozens of professional crew shots (desparately needed content), five high-quality reels in the pipeline, and a deeper understanding of the fascinating science behind how roofing systems work, which is SO HELPFUL as a marketer. I didn't realize how much there was to ventilation. Or chimneys. Or repairing rot spots.

And to top it off, the weather was beautiful and I spent about a day-and-a-half outside in the sunshine instead of being tucked away in my cave at my computer.

I wouldn't have experienced all that if I stayed on the ground. Getting a new perspective always involves climbing higher and leaving your comfort zone.