It's so scary doing something new. From starting a new job to booking that long awaited vacation to the other side of the world. There's something inherently exciting about fear. Fear is what keeps us safe. Fear also keeps us stuck. It's that comforting little voice that tells us it's okay to not do it, to not try it, to not go for it. Fear can be overpowering. It can be paralyzing, but fear can only hold us back for so long.
I have so many fears. I have a horrible fear of flying, but yet I love traveling and seeing new places. I have a fear of cockroaches, especially the flying ones, yet I live in an urban city. I have a fear of failing, yet I constantly put myself in positions where failure is almost certain. I also have a fear of success. I've spent my entire life searching for money, prestige, praises and happiness. I was always afraid of not being good enough, not making enough money and being miserable. I realized that these same things that I feared, were also the fuel that kept me going and at the same time, it kept me stuck.
In a recent trip to Mexico, I became enamored with parasailing. I've always seen those flying chairs, dangling high in the sky, but I never paid them too much attention. I thought it was silly and frankly I'm not one to do many (actually, scratch that, any activity) while on a beach vacation. The thought of being propelled up into the sky, attached to a thin metal rope hovering over the open ocean scared the beJesus's out of me. All I could see was the eminent danger and a whole boatload of fear. The fear of the rope snapping and us drifting into the unknown. The fear of a bird getting tangled up in our parachute. The fear of me falling out of the parasail chair. The fear of crashing into the water with the force of a jet plane. These fears were the first things that came to mind, not what it might feel like to experience flight above the Caribbean Sea. I kept watching the sea of small boats with parasails for several days. Then, on my birthday something changed.
I realized that my fears have kept me from experiencing life. From trying new things for so many years. This year, I wanted to start conquering them and what better way than to book the next open slot for my first parasailing ride. Without giving my fear time to poke in its ugly head, I booked that damn ride. Instead of focusing on the negative "what if's" I decided to shift my mindset and focus on the positive "what ifs." What if I discovered I loved parasailing. What if I discovered that the ocean wasn't such a scary monster after all. What if I could just feel free, even for just a moment.
As I approached the jet-ski that would whisk me away to the boat and ultimately the parasail, I began to feel a sense of power. A sense of excitement. An exhilarating rush. I decided that at that moment, I was going to allow myself to wander into the unknown (Queue Elsa from Frozen belting out "INTO THE UNNNKNOWN!" as she gallops on her ice horse into the frozen castle).
I had allowed my fear to take hold of me for so long and I was finally ready to start breaking away, one small thing at a time. As I buckle up and the boat begins to pull away, the parachute starts to fill up with air and we are suddenly jerked hundreds of feet up into the air. This was one of the most magical experiences of my life. I've been to Mexico so many times, but I had never seen it from this perspective before. I had never seen Quintana Roo from above the ground. I look down into the ocean and I can see my dangling feet over the shadows of aquatic life. The whole experience only lasted a few minutes, but it meant so much more to me. It allowed me to experience fear and choose to overcome it. It allowed me to experience something that I would've never considered before because of fear. From that day onwards, I have made it a point to try and tackle my fears one small step at a time.
So if fear is holding you back from doing the thing you want to do, allow it to speak briefly. Listen to it and then quickly dim its voice and begin replacing it with the voice of reason. The likelihood of what you fear actually coming to fruition is extremely low (except if you jump in-front of a moving vehicle - Please don't do this! We love you too much!). Even if your fears do come true, you will have the strength to overcome it. Fear is our mind's way of keeping us safe, but sometimes fear keeps us too safe and holds us back from living our best life and being the best version of ourselves.
We all need some degree of fear to keep us grounded and from not going hog wild, but we have allowed fear to get comfortable.
Fear has become that unwanted house guest, who has their feet up on your new coffee table and watching TV on the highest volume possible. We need to kick fear out, clean up its mess and invite in its curious confident replacement, courage! We are brave enough to tackle our fears. We are strong enough to overcome our fears.
I'm on a quest to live my life to the fullest. To telling fear to quiet down since there is no longer a place for it in my subconscious. I want to experience every thrill, every ride, every up (and every down), every adventure that life has to offer. So, if fear is holding you back, get on that parasail and let it whisk you into the unknown. Who knows what you'll discover, but one thing is for certain, you'll have become braver just by taking that chance. Now, like Elsa let's pony up and break into that icy glass castle!
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