How I overcame my fear ?
Ramesh Kumar
Here to expose fake influencers and educate vulnerable people. Some one called me Influslayer! Fighting plagiarism. Believer of 'Nothing is impossible'. What I express here is personal & nothing to do with my Company.
Date 13 Aug 2011
Location : Maldives
Age: 54 Years !
I do not know swimming. I love to sit on beach and watch waves. Some times I enter knee deep water and rush back if the sea is rough.
And Maldives is a paradise on earth. You just sit and relax.. nothing else to do.
My both children knew swimming and were enjoying snorkelling. They wanted to go for scuba diving. Then they forced me to join.
Every one says you don't need to know swimming for Scuba diving. Every one is different and YOU are different. You can tell every one. But, when it comes to you, you chicken out ! It is like consultant telling you to dive in while they watch from outside!
Step 1 : Told Myself : Do it !
I have taken enough risks in life professionally, financially etc. But, never took a decision to risk my life. Devil inside me was telling that I am 54 years old and is it required ? Am I really afraid of death? Will the Scuba diving Instructor let me die? Kids can do it! Millions of people could do it ! I CAN do it ! Let me do it !
Step 2 : Put a brave front !
The most difficult part is putting a brave front when you are pissing in pants ! Yeah! In front of Kids and wife, you have no choice. And I did it ( I mean putting brave front) many time in their presence. No issues. But, putting a brave front in front of Scuba Diving instructor is something tricky! What if he believes my brave front for real and thinks I can manage myself? Let him fix all those oxygen tank and other gear one me. Anyway, I kept telling, it is easy... no one died trying .....
Step 3 : Jump in !
Son and daughter were already instructed and they were in the water. Now it is my turn to Jump in! God ! Are you there? Please Don't call me up there now itself :-).....And there I go... step into water slowly...
Step 4 : There I go Under water !
The Instructor gave me all instructions as to how to breathe through mouth and how to stop breathing through nose and how to enjoy underwater. Then waved a bye to wife who is sitting and watching me without any pity ! With a heavy heart went into water.
...and believe me , it is a different world out there.
And I make a mistake :
Some water entered the mask and was near the nose. The instructor was asking me to raise the head so that water flows down. Instead in panic I forgot to continue breathing with mouth and started breathing with nose..... and I started swallowing water .....Thought God is calling :-)
And signalled the instructor that I had enough :-(
He pulled me out and I was glad to be back sitting safe and satisfied and proud for beating my own fear.
I am glad that even though I could not go deeper in water and enjoy that beautiful World, I was happy that I broke my own fear ! This helps in facing real World problems.
I love to do more adventurous things like Hang gliding and keep telling that I have a bad back as an excuse! May be it is time to overcome that fear of flying in skies !
Manager Human Resource, Career Counselor, Trainer, and an Organizational Psychologist
7 年Come on sir.... You can do much better. Just say yes to yourself without second thought.
Seasoned Organizational Psychologist | Competence based Talent Management specialist | L&D/OD Specialist | Behavioural Specialist
7 年Enjoyed the read sir. Got to tell you, that I am one hell of a swimmer, but Scuba diving would definitely expect a lot of guts for me to dive in the deep vast ocean. In-fact I dont even know if I would even attempt it or not. But life is not worth living if you dont feel that adrenaline rush once in a while... Awesome...
Founder & Director General at Futures Research & Development Academy (FR&DA)
7 年A genuine portrait of fear. Thanks Sir! You have yet again reinforced the famous saying that 'what we have to fear is fear itself'.
AR, VR, Metaverse | Immersive Technologies | Business Solutions | Industrial Applications
7 年Dar ke aage jeet hain, maybe it's true...have to do it myself first, same as yours, risking life