Conquering Fear

Greetings!

Is there something in your life that you are really afraid of?  A fear that stops you from trying something new?  Most likely there is at least one.  For me it was the fear of water and actually having  to take my feet off the bottom of a swimming pool.  Sure, I would get in the water and play in the shallow end, but actual swimming?  Nope.

Last September, I decided to learn to swim.  Off I went off recreation department to sign up for adult swim classes.  The first class was terrifying for me.  I did some bobs and blew bubbles, then they handed me a kick board.  Once I got better at kicking they had me add some arms and took away the kick board.  I hit my first bump in the road.  I was terrified to float face down in the water away from the wall.  The instructor put their arm out in the water the first few times so I could grab them if I freaked out.  Soon after that, I swam for the first time.  I was elated.  I had conquered part of my fear.  Over the past year, I have had to work through many mental blocks when it comes to swimming ( floating on my back, treading water in the deep end.  I'm still not comfortable treading away from the wall yet and I panicked my first swim across the diving well).

I can swim now and really love going to my lessons.  I even decided to get crazy and learn the butterfly.  Now, I'm not completely 100% comfortable in the water yet but its getting there.  For me, I've really dealt with a big fear and I'm really happy I did it.  My point is, we all have something that terrifies us.  Something that holds us back from trying new things or even gets in the way of life in general.  We should all make a goal of trying to conquer that fear.  It shows us things about ourselves we never knew before and can give a big boast to our self-confidence.  So go out into the world, conquer your fear, confront it.  Discover something new about yourself.        

Blessings

And I would like to say thank you to the very patient and understanding staff at my local recreation department.