Spotlight on Ty Vaughn
/BY CARA SCHAEFER
While heights may sound like an intimidating prospect to some (like me), taking to the sky can open up new possibilities. We spoke with Ty Vaughn, known as Adventuress Ty, about zip lining, fear, and connecting others to their own sense of adventure.
Photos courtesy of Ty Vaughn.
OUT THERE: What was your first experience with zip lining like?
TY VAUGHN: My very first experience zip lining was actually Catalina Island here in California. I was inspired to do that zipline from watching my favorite show, “The Amazing Race.”They have these teams that travel around the world and do these amazing adventures and tasks, and the zip lining really caught my attention. So my husband asked me what I wanted to do for my 40th birthday, and I'm like, “I think I want to go zip lining.”
The zip line had five zips that connected, and once I stepped off that first one it really took my breath away, literally and figuratively. I thought I must be like on another planet. It was an amazing adrenaline rush. The feeling of flying, of not being trapped by anything. The air. The wind. Being a part of nothing, but yet being a part of everything.
It was something that I had never experienced before. And I loved it. You’re looking at mountains, and you're going 55, 60 miles an hour on the cable. You know there's nothing underneath you. There's nothing over you. It was a sense of freedom that I had never felt before.
OT: When did you start to bring other people along on your adventures?
TV: I’m actually a professional nanny. One of the little girls that I was nannying was going to a gymnastics class, and I met a young lady there by the name of Mika. Her and I got to talking about what we do outside of our regular jobs, and I mentioned that I really enjoyed zip lining. And she was pretty much blown away, like, “You do what?”
We did a zip line together, and she filmed it. And she said, “This right here is pretty remarkable. And I think you need to share this with other people.” I was kind of like, “Whoa, why would I really want to do that?”
“No, no, no. You have to do this,” she said. “People that look like us need to know that this is out there. And you could be the mouthpiece to share this.” So I ran a post on social media for a group zip lining trip, just to see what happened, and it sold out. We were onto something.
OT: You've also done other things like bungee jumping and skydiving that are generally considered pretty scary. How do you approach fear in your life?
TV: That's interesting. I'm going to go back to that first zipline on Catalina Island. The one thing that I didn't entertain was fear. Because I think if you bring fear into the equation it prohibits you, it limits you, and it makes you think about why you shouldn't do certain things. So I didn't decide to entertain the word fear, because I knew that I wouldn't proceed.
As the adventures have continued to stack up, we added skydiving, bungee jumping, ATV riding, kayaking and paragliding to the mix. My thing is, if I'm going to do something like that, it's 100% commitment. And I don't process, ‘What if this doesn't work out?’ I process, ‘How much enjoyment am I going to get from this? How is this going to feel?’ I think my approach to adventure is not about the mishaps, it's more about making these memories, and doing something that I have no control over. Having that edge, it's exciting for me. It's like that climax — whatever happens, happens. I can't control that, but I'm willing to try it.
So when we skydive, or bungee jump, am I nervous? Absolutely. Am I processing sometimes, ‘What am I doing? How did I get here?’ Absolutely. A lot of times, adventure becomes a metaphor for life. The reality is we are always being challenged. There's always going to be obstacles to overcome. There's fear. There's worry. There's doubt. All of these things are mixed and mingled in our thought process every single day. But we take risks. We were designed to go out there and figure things out, to make things happen, regardless of what the outcome is. To go beyond what you can do. That’s what adventure is. Adventure says, “I’m going to take the limits off, I’m just going for it. And when the chips fall, that's just where they fall.” But I promise you, I'm gonna have a smile on my face all the way up, or all the way down.
OT: What would you say to someone who felt they were too old to try something new?
TV: The reality is you can pretty much do whatever it is that you choose to do, so long as you have the physical capabilities of doing it. Adventure is not limited to an age group. It is limited to a person who has a limited mindset. Some people will cap themselves off because they think, ‘Oh, I'm too old.’ Let me tell you something: You are never too old to breathe, and to live, and to maximize the gift and the life that God has given you. If you are open to new things and you want to try something, do it.
There was a lady at my church who wanted to zip line. She explained to me that she had five children, and eight grandchildren, and none of them would take her zip lining because they felt that it was past her time to do so. And I said, “Well, if this is what you want to do, I will gladly take you.” It was her 75th birthday, and it meant the world to her to go. It didn't matter to her that the person taking her was a stranger. She had a hunger to do something that she had never done before, and she defied what her family said, because she knew she could do it.
We took her over to Catalina Island on a beautiful day in September. And she zip lined, and it was the most thrilling day of her life. She laughed. She cried. She clapped her hands. She was just excited. And she had nothing to stop her at that moment, because she knew that she was free.
