At the recent open water swim, we had a rather large crowd of newbies. It was awesome to see so many people taking an interest in triathlons. My friend Maggie did her first OWS, and she was a beast!
After the swim, I got to talking to two ladies and I was asked what they could do to get rid of the fear they had when they first started swimming. I may not be the best person to ask, because despite the fact a five foot bull shark was caught on the gulf side the day before, open water just doesn't scare me. But there are plenty of other things that do.
I am terrified of straight drop roller coasters. Love the twisty ones, can ride them all day. But the straight drop ones - you generally have to offer me large sums of money to get me on one. So, relating their question to that situation, I said to them ``I let it take me.``
Both heads snapped around, and they looked at me shocked. Okay, not the answer they were looking for, but this is what I've learned:
Since fear is what we create, and it`s all in our head, then the more we try to fight it the bigger it`s going to become. So for me, I let the panic set it. Then I count to ten. During those ten seconds, I keep moving if I need to, stand still if I don't. Once I get to ten, I imagine the fear slipping away from me. I may still be afraid or nervous, but the panic part will be gone. And then I go and do what I was afraid of, including straight drop roller coasters (but only because Hannah asked me to).Turns out that the straight drop only lasted four seconds, so I had six seconds to spare.
Just in case I get asked that question again, anyone got any other advice to conquer fear?
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