Vertigo

Milan Kundera, in The Unbearable Lightness Of Being, described vertigo, not as the fear of heights or fear of falling, but as the desire to fall.

It makes sense if you think about it.

Part of you wants to jump
...to fly?
...to prove that you are indestructible?

The other part of you knows better. It's the struggle between these two inner voices - and the fear that in a moment, the wrong voice could win - that causes your stomach to churn and your mind to reel.

It becomes an obsession, the suspense of will you or won't you?

You can't pull yourself away from the ledge.

Because you don't want to.

You want to believe that you can come to the edge of the cliff, and keep going.
You want to believe that just this once, the rules don't have to apply to you.
You want to fly.

You want to jump.