Have you ever wondered how your life would be different if you had no fear? Perhaps some of you have no fear already. If so, I say good for you, no need to keep reading. For me, however, I have plenty of fear and sometimes it stops me from living life to the fullest. I'd like to stop that from happening so as an exercise in overcoming my fear, and hopefully inspiring you to overcome yours, I will share with you how I have taken a step in facing my fear.
This past weekend I went rock climbing outside for the first time. I had been to a rock climbing gym several times before, about 2 years ago, but had never climbed an actual rock with rope outdoors. To my horror and surprise, I was told by my husband that rock climbers start from the top, rappel down, then climb back up. Now think about this for a second. Imagine you've never rock climbed outside before, you're facing the side of a cliff and you're told that you are about to walk down the side of that cliff backwards having no idea what the side of the cliff looks like nor knowing what's down there at the bottom. Well, this was me Saturday morning. I looked at my husband and said, are you crazy!?! Walking down a cliff backwards with only a rope and a harness! He smiled and very calmly asked, "Lauren, do you believe in yourself?" Honestly, I wasn't sure at that point. I didn't want to say yes, but I also didn't want to say no. I asked if I could climb down around the side to see what the side of the cliff looked like before rappelling down. He said no. At this point my hands were sweaty and my heart was fluttering a little. I could feel the acid rising in my stomach. Then Andrew, my husband, said, "Lauren, you have to believe in yourself and you have to trust yourself. If you don't believe in yourself what do you have? What do you stand for?" Okay, I thought. Don't over think this. You wanted to do this now do it. Lots of other people have done it and were fine. I took a deep breath, strapped myself in, and began to lower myself down the side of the cliff. It was scary at first, but then I relaxed a little, trusting my hands to guide the rope through the ATC. I reached the bottom in no time and thought, hey, that was no big deal! Actually, that was even a little bit fun!
Rock climbing has taught me to trust in myself and my abilities. It has a way of slowing you down and forcing you to focus on what's immediately ahead of you, not the bump 3 feet ahead or the mountain you are attempting to climb, but what's immediately in front of you. This is a very effective tool that can be applied to any other aspect of life, for example, your career, loosing those few extra pounds, finishing a degree, or just getting past a difficult situation. If you step back and look at the mountain it would be easy to give up before even trying. But if you don't let yourself over think it and if you focus on the very next step, before you know it, you're at the top wondering how you got there. Finally, rock climbing has taught me that most everything in life is 90% mental and 10% physical. Perception really is everything. Change your mind and you can change your world.
That feeling of accomplishing something you never thought possible is exhilarating and inspiring. So, here's to living your best life, trusting and believing in yourself, and not letting fear get in your way!
Oh, and by the way, the rest of the day was a blast! I lost a few layers of skin on two of my fingers, but it was well worth it.
“If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” -Steve Jobs
Completely agree! I went today.. and thought "wow this is scary..how do people do this for fun?" I was shaking like a leaf and could not get up or down. I was scared. But of what? I wasn't even doing anything? Fear is just in your mind. It is a mental block..and when you overcome it, you instantly feel on top of the world! I never wanted to leave the climbing gym and ended up climbing 5 walls! definitely something everyone should try! we are all a lot more stronger and braver than we think!
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