I Did It

 

I had ended my last blog post on Fear with Nike’s slogan ” Just do it”. And last week I got the chance to put my own advice into action. I needed to get out of my comfort zone to conquer this one fear…so I just did it! 

For most of my life, I have not been an outdoor person, preferring an armchair and a book any day. My sister, on the other hand, was very sporty and sometimes I envied her daring, adventurous spirit which saw her through many adrenalin-rush activities like paragliding and skydiving which I was never brave enough to try. Strangely though, in recent years, nature seems to beckon me and there has been a yearning to have a go at one water sport in particular…snorkelling.

Unfortunately, my first attempt at it had proved disastrous and that had raised the fear factor, partly of the activity itself but also of failing again.

Yet I was determined to try again and I got my second chance last week.This time I was wiser and went in better prepared.

The first thing I did was some research into the gear required…a full face mask or the traditional goggles and tube. Being claustrophobic, both didn’t seem ideal to me but according to some videos I saw, the latter won on most counts. So one decision made at least.

Next, I continued to watch more videos on how to snorkel, tips for beginners. This assuaged my fear of not being able to breathe, of water getting into my goggles as well as my mouth….all of which had a happened in my last attempt.

Moving from theory to practice, this time I actually invested in a short lesson even though it all sounded pretty simple. I wanted desperately to get it right and the step- by- step instructions really made it easier.

After that, I pushed to the back of my mind, any thoughts of being stung by a jellyfish, or coming across a shark, of not being able to jump off the boat or climb again as I had joint issues, of losing sight of others and being abandoned…I simply jumped, took a breath, put my head in and went with the flow.

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