Fire your Fear in its Face…
How many times have you looked your fear in its face and said, “I. DON’T. CARE.”!!!
Recently, we went to a water park (this phrase used to send shivers down my spine) to fulfil our kids’ long drawn wish. We went all prepared for the “water” bodies in the water park and in my heart of hearts, I knew that I would just be putting my feet in the water and perhaps clicking happy pictures. Rides were going to be a STRICT no-no for me.
I confess the only images of a water park in my mind were from that childhood “Essel World” advertisement – “Essel World mein rahoonga main. Ghar nahi jaaoonga main.” [I will stay at Essel World . I won’t go home]. It’s ok if you are singing it along :).
I am not an outwardly adventurous person and am more happy doing things I am comfortable with. And I was happy as I knew my kids (and my husband) were going to love this trip. Ah! And me too, whilst testing my photography skills.
We decided on going to Imagica, actually AquaMagica, the water park side of Imagica. The excitement began a few days in advance when the children were told about the trip. And now, our days and nights were filled with sounds of “Imagica, ee-aa-ee-aa-ee-yaa”. Well, you can sing this one too.
We were among the early birds to reach the place and thus had an ample head start before the place started getting crowded. The moment the children saw the first set of slides, their excitement and happiness knew no bounds. It was such a happy sight to see them jump and laugh and climb the highest of places with no fear at all. When they came on to the first slide (which, later on we found out to be the easiest one actually); they were given directions to cross their arms and feet while sliding down – and I was full of paranoia. There was water spouting from all sides at high speeds (according to me) and how would my babies just overcome those barriers. I kept shouting, “Hold the handle”, “Be careful”, “Go slow” but before I knew it, they were already in the pool below. The staff were also laughing (at me, of course!). And then, it was my turn. I decided to go down the stairs, but they were all up again waiting for their next chance.
I turned towards the slide, closed my eyes, chanted a “Jai Mata Di” and swoosh I went. Within 10 seconds, I was down there and happy.
This wasn’t all that difficult, eh! A double bonanza! I had overcome two fears – one for my children and one for me.
But there was more coming my way, of which I had no idea. The park, we figured out, was designed in a way that the difficulty level increased with each step you took.
The little ones were just not scared and had to be actually stopped from going on slides where there was a minimum height and weight limit. The brave husband went for one of the most difficult slides that I couldn’t even muster the courage to look at. For me, I had to take one step at a time.
I simply refused to get on to a couple of difficult ones, once I was shown the youtube videos of how they looked like. Moreover, they needed 3 or 4 people for one ride and we were just the two of us.
At that moment, there were too many ‘What Ifs’ running in my mind.
What if the tube in which we were sitting just flew off instead of taking a turn on the slide? What if it deflated enroute? What if the slide broke? What if the operator made a mistake and the gap between two groups reduced and they banged into each other?
My imagination was running wild but I somehow tried to take control of this situation. I realised, that this was probably one of the best chances I had to overcome my fears. Everyone was doing it and they were happy doing it. Some of them even repeated the slides and here I was, trying to avoid the thrill. I didn’t want to deprive my partner of his share of excitement all because of MY FEARS.
I tried, I tried to shoot them down, I screamed an “I don’t care” scream and voila! We were on!
Now, the only thing you could do was shout out loud and smile and enjoy the moment and just leave everything else out of this.
I had lived MY “Darr ke aage jeet hai” moment, finally.
I know my threshold is pretty low and people have done far difficult things in life, but it was more about breaking that mental barrier for me. Everyone has their limits and it is about pushing them further, a little at a time!!!
It was more of a victory for my husband as he could convince me to do all this and now he has his hopes risen high..er... – what next? Bungee? Scuba diving? Paragliding? And I turn a deaf ear and a blind eye towards him. But maybe, some day!
And for my children, they were still left wanting for more and have planned their next trip already :).
For those who are still struggling like me, go out and live the moment! Live the moment to create happy memories. If I can do it, believe me, anyone can!
“Darr ke aage sach mein jeet hai”! [There IS victory beyond fear!]
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