Fear is a human emotion that helps to keep us safe from danger but also a double-edged sword that holds us back from realizing our full potential. One common fear that I believe every human has is the fear of death; nobody wants to die even though death is a natural aspect of life. Another common fear is the fear of failure which basically makes people stay in their comfort zone and avoid taking risks but the truth is that such fear prevents us from growing in whatever field we find ourselves.
We have always heard people say that they faced their fears and became successful but one thing you should realize is that facing your fears doesn't mean you will suddenly become fearless, it's about embracing those fears and still being able to move forward despite having them. For example, someone who is scared of heights won't suddenly become fearless when they start going to very high places, that fear is still there but it doesn't stop them from climbing to the highest mountains. The fear is there but it just doesn't bother them anymore.
For me, I have been able to overcome certain fears over the years and the notable one was the fear of swimming. The funny thing is that before the incident that traumatized me, I was a good swimmer and I learned it in less than an hour of stepping into a swimming pool for the very first time. But on this very day of the incident, I was at a friend's birthday party and after changing into my swimwear, I just walked to the pool and jumped right in. The problem was that I hadn't been in a pool for over 3 years and I had forgotten how to swim.
I immediately lost balance and struggled to find my footing. I started to panic and was just flaying around like a fish on land but luckily, my feet found the pool's floor and I was able to stand while my heart was pounding like crazy. I slowly walked out of the pool with my eyes aching and hands trembling. I sat down and looked at the pool like it was hell, I couldn't believe that I almost drowned. I never got close to the pool again till I eventually left the party. Since that day, became very afraid of swimming and generally just stayed away from swimming pools.
A year later, I was at another friend's birthday party. Most people were having fun in the pool but I was just outside eyeing it like it was the valley of death. My friends invited me to join them in the pool and I declined at first but later on decided to give it a try again. This time, I didn't jump in like a maniac, I slowly descended into the pool while making sure to hold on to one of the metal bars around the pool. The water was wobbling me around and I was afraid to remove my feet from the floor. After taking time to get used to the feeling of being in the water, I decided to take things up a notch by dipping my head underwater.
I did that a couple of times and later on, I dipped my head in, removed my legs from the floor and just floated, of course I was still holding on very tightly to the metal bar 😅. I was slowly getting back my confidence and at one point, I let go of the metal bar and just floated in place, before lowering my legs back to the floor. I had to relearn how to swim again right there and then, that was how I was able to overcome that fear of swimming again. After a couple of minutes of trying to get comfortable with being in the water, I started swimming again confidently.
Right now, I haven't been in a pool for over 5 years, so I have clearly forgotten how to swim again and I will surely be careful the next time I find myself in water. I have learned my lesson from that one experience after I confidently jumped into a pool thinking I was a very good swimmer after all those years. I was able to overcome that fear back then and right now I'm no longer afraid of getting into a body of water, but I do know that I will have to relearn or revise how to swim anytime I find myself in a pool.
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Indeed fear keeps us from attaining our potential and I am glad you found a way of overcoming that. You learnt your lesson the hard way and I know your writeup will also serve as a lesson to people out there. Thanks for sharing this with us.
We learn from our experiences, but it's even better when we learn from the experiences of others. I have talked about my experience and people can learn a lot from it. Thanks for stopping by
You are totally right.. Keep writing
You lost the skill after a prolonged absence but gradually retrieved it with caution. Swimming ca create fear especially for those not acquainted. Glad you found your footing even slowly
I never realized I could forget how to swim and that's also what made me realize anybody can forget how to do a particular thing if they haven't done that thing in a very long time. Thanks for stopping by
You're welcome
Overcoming fears is really not easy. You need a lot of courage and your will to get over it. Taking a baby step will make a big difference, as long as you started it. Little by little, those fears will be replace with something else. I actually love heights, but I never thought that I have a little fear of it. What's wrong with me is whenever i'm in tall buildings, I always imagine morbid things and that trigger that fears, lol. Why think of it no, lol. I just want to smash open my head sometimes because od that, lol.
I also imagine such morbid things as well 😅 I guess that's my problem, I overthink things a lot and when I find myself in a high place, that overthinking causes fear. Thanks for stopping by
Overcoming fears is not really easy. It takes lots of courage. The syndrome of what people will say still rings in my head. One of my greatest fear.
That's why it's important to develop the attitude of not caring about what people would say, we tend to realize our full potential when we do so. Thanks for stopping by
Exactly but most times those feelings come up at some point.