Shark Bait - Living Fearlessly

Literally, Figuratively and Metaphorically

I've been fortunate, and unfortunate enough to have come across a few sharks in my life. They certainly all didn't have 300 teeth, but they could all bite. However, for the intention of this article, I will only be talking about the 66-220 pound, 5.5 - 7 feet sharks that you find in the cold waters of South Africa.

Located off the coast of Durban, South Africa is Aliwol Shoal, a beautiful and renowned shark diving spot for anyone who is willing to put their life policy to the test.

A few years back our family decided we wanted to go diving in the area as we had all recently just become certified divers. We signed our indemnity forms and decided that for a few hours, we were going to put our lives in the hands of the ocean - a liberating feeling.

This wasn't a traditional cage-dive, which offered some form of protection. We were going in cage-less, and had no safety and security besides our 3mm wetsuit which did more for the cold water than it would have done with 50-300 teeth wrapped around it.

Being in my early twenties, you can imagine I thought I was invincible - as you do when you come of age. I never truly considered what would have happened if I had been eaten that day, let alone bitten. However, the feeling of knowing you are immersed in a space where you have absolutely no control is exhilarating.

We were immersed in about 20m of water and there were between 20-40 black tip sharks all around us. Not only that, but before we got off the boat, the water was chummed with fish heads, guts and blood - a perfect recipe for hungry sharks. Not only was the water chummed, but during our dive there were three buckets situated at various depths containing the same ingredients for our shark friends.

The whole experience puts you in a state of complete fear, but complete excitement all at once. It certainly is a paradox and one you have to experience to make sense of it - knowing you are completely helpless, yet you don't really want to be anywhere else.

Fear Governed my Childhood

At some point in our lives, we've all been locked into absolute fear.

Maybe it was the first time you asked a girl out to the movies, or the time you got caught doing something you knew you shouldn't be.

Maybe you were paralysed with fear because you didn't feel good enough to be that leading role in the play or stand in front of the audience to speak.

A major unspoken part of fear is self-belief.

The self-belief that whatever happens in a situation, you will be able to respond accordingly.

Simply knowing you are unapologetically brilliant gives you the first principles in throwing yourself, quite literally, into the deep-end. Self-belief is the separator in fear - it is what determines if someone stays fearful, or breaks-free from the illusion that they don't embody that self-belief to carry themselves forward.

We've all been there; lacking the self-belief to follow through with something we believed in or were passionate about - from climbing the tallest tree in the garden, posting that carrot cake recipe for hundreds to read, to sharing your thoughts on party-gate or the socio-economic climate.

Ironically, in hindsight, lacking self-belief somewhat seems necessary for an empowering life - a gift that keeps on giving.

I remember growing up and I was terrified of everything.

I certainly would't have gone swimming with sharks, even if you paid me.

Little me wouldn't try new things, take risks, or just be a child of fearlessness - it was all about playing it safe. I lacked the desire to do anything, and everything outside of my comfort zone was terrifying.

This translated into many spheres of my life; from meeting people, to putting my hand up and trying something new - I hated the thought of making a fool of myself.

I hated knowing that others would laugh at me and I would be ridiculed for not being good enough or being able to do something. I thought that if I just didn't do it, nobody could say a single thing. This attitude, however, didn't get me very far.

I Now Govern Fear in my Life

My entire life currently exists in fear.

Although, not in the typical gut-wrenching, heart stopping, anxiety inducing way.

Simply put, I no longer fear the unknown.

Cage-less shark diving rather sounds like an opportunity to live dangerously and a part of me thrives on the danger - it reminds me that I am alive, that I am human.

Over the years, I learnt that fear is just a part of life.

Without it, we wouldn't have natural governing laws that keep us in constant alignment with ourselves and our environment.

Fear creates the "Fight or Flight" response which is what we are built for - survival.

Without it we wouldn't have an action element to anything in our lives.

"The fight or flight response is?an automatic physiological reaction to an event that is perceived as stressful or frightening. The perception of threat activates the sympathetic nervous system and triggers an acute stress response that prepares the body to fight or flee."

Without this physiological reaction, we simply would not be able to understand ourselves within our environment. The "self-aware" part of life would be impossible to make sense of as fear is what keeps us benchmarked to people, places, situations and experiences.

Fear is what keeps us alive - it is the driver of living on the edge and setting unrealistic goals and expectations.

For the most part, at one point in our lives we all fear that we will never amount to something - I know I certainly feel this way often.

One thing we all know for sure, and all share in commonality is that we are all born, we will all pay taxes our lives, and we will all eventually die, and as grim as that sounds it simply means that everything in-between is on us.

What makes us truly different is our experiences, desires, thoughts and emotions.

No human life is a like, it is literally impossible to replicate ones life and spirit.

Think about it for a moment, to replicate every event, word, story, thought, decision and action from the moment you enter this world up until this very moment just seems like like a non-starter.

What shapes us is truly what makes us and nobody can take that away from you.

This should highlight how important the gift of fear truly is for a life of fearlessness.

Fear-Inducing Experiences Creates Fearlessness

Exposure to fear on a regular basis builds a resistance to fear in general.

"Biologically this is a learning and defence mechanism. People have different levels of emotional arousal, and use extreme activities to get a physical reaction. On the other hand people that have high-emotional arousal can get a similar reaction crossing a busy street.

Basically you want to control your emotional arousal, in this case fear and adrenaline caused by stress. But would that make you fearless? It wouldn't make you search out extreme sports necessarily because a lot of the people who do are going after the high, fear, and excitement that you are trying to suppress."

We are all different and ones cage-less shark-dive is another persons busy street.

Understanding your level of tolerance to fear is a great step in allowing yourself to start living a little more dangerously. Living dangerously doesn't mean jumping off cliffs or paragliding over crocodile infested waters, but rather it is to be a little more adventurous in your everyday life.

If you have ordered a cappuccino every single day for the last three years, try something new and order a chai latte. If you've always wanted to join the local chess club, but have never played chess then all you need to do is show up and start playing.

We all have our own levels of fear that we have learnt to endure. Some of us are open to more risky decisions, while others are more risk averse. There is no golden recipe for living, but for me, taking the plunge and learning to embrace fear as a factor which encourages personal growth is what has allowed me to look past the initial anxiety of it all.

In the case of the shark dive, fear in this case was actually quite beautiful.

Had I been afraid, I would have never seen sharks in their natural environment or seen the coral, reef and other life that lives beneath the surface.

There is something magnificent about sharing the home of a fierce predator knowing it could make you fish-food at any moment.

On the other side of fear is freedom.