January 11, 2017
“You can gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” -Eleanor Roosevelt-
Wow! That is so true. Last year I attended a program that was very educational. I learned so much. One of the things I learned was to face my fears and do the thing anyway.
I have a fear of heights. At this program, I had to face that fear or let my team down. The first one was to fall backwards off a scaffling at least six feet high and trust the people on the ground would catch me. It took everything in me go through with this with an audience of fifty plus people watching and cheering me on.
The second was to climb a tree to the top and stand on a round disk and turn around before jumping off. It was raining and my shoes were slippery. I got within six or seven feet to the top before my knee refused to been any further.
I was going to attempt to climb back down when I was informed by those below, because I could not climb back down, I would have to jump.
Don’t worry, I was well harnessed and after a slight hesitation, I jumped and slid down the rest of the way.
I can’t begin to tell you the natural high I felt from my accomplishments.
This is an example of facing the thing I feared and then going ahead and doing it anyway. Now, I don’t know if I could do it again, but man, I am so glad I did it. What it taught me is that once I made my decision to do this, I able to do it. That’s what life is all about. We decide, face the fear, and do it.
I love to hear some of your challenges.
Until the next time, take care. lw