Fear is nothing more then a state of mind...
I’m not getting back on the tube! It was WAY too scary ....
Going down rapids in an inner tube looked like fun and filled with adventure on a hot 95 degree day. Even though I'm not crazy about water, I decided to join in with the rest of the family and have a blast.
All was going well Until… I went over that very last rapid! Before I knew it I was thrown off my tube and I felt myself being pulled down by the current while wildly trashing around under water like a crazy women!
My tube floated with the current and I was left to defend for myself.
I decided right there and then… that’s it! I’m done! No more tubing for me!
In the mean time My 9 year old Grandson was dealing with his own stuff. He also got knocked off his tube and was left stranded and scared! I could see him but I was not able to help him, only reinforcing in my mind that this was it!
We both agreed that this tubing thing was way too dangerous and we had enough. It was too scary!
We were at a pivotal moment. We could call it quits, give into our fears and feel lousy about our day and ourselves or…. we could be brave and face our fears head on. We took one look at each other and together we made the decision to move forward, face our fears and grow from the bad experience we just had.
“Action Cures Fear... inaction creates terror” - Douglas Horton
Well then… if fears are nothing more then a state of mind, and if action cures fears, we simply needed to “Flip The Switch” We did that by moving our thoughts from negative to positive.
We thought of all the fun we would miss, in fact, who wants to sit on the sidelines and watch the rest of the family have fun while we were sitting in the hot 95 degree weather?
Besides, was it really that bad getting thrown off the tube and going under water? I wasn’t t even close to drowning! So … what’s the big deal? Perhaps it wasn’t as bad as I made it out to be.
I helped my grandson realize that being stranded for a period of time really wasn’t that bad, in fact the life guard was soon there to rescue him and he was perfectly fine in the long run.
Studies show that humans repeated exposure to the event(s) that created the trauma can help the anxiety subside.
Together we made a decision face our fears. Together we reached for another tube, I put on my big girl pants and together we attempted another ride down the rapids, this time with lots of laughs and giggles.
At the end of the day, my grandson said…. This was the best day ever! At the end of the week when asked, what was your favorite thing you did on vacation? Guess what his answer was? You guessed it! With a wide smile and excitement in his voice he said, the tubes!!!
What if …. what if we had given in to our fears and created less than a desirable day? But ... because we decided to keep going, we gained not only strength, but courage, and... confidence in ourselves.
When you let your thoughts, feelings and decisions be driven by fear, you are reduced to a slave of fear and as long as we’re reacting to fear, we can’t be reaching our fullest potential. When fear gets the best of you, use it as fuel to drive you.
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