Overcoming My Fear

What’s your greatest fear? Heights? Spiders? Water? Public Speaking?  They say that some people would rather die than to speak in front of an audience.

My biggest fear growing up was water. I know what you’re probably thinking, “this guy was scared of the water? The guy who races triathlons? No way!”

But it’s true. I never learned to swim as a little kid, so that contributed to my fears. I also watched Jaws one too many times, and anything where scary creatures came out of the water.

It was a fear that stayed with me until I was 9. At that time, I was on a sailing trip to Mexico with my family. Oddly enough I wasn’t afraid of sailing, what being surrounded by miles of ocean all around me.

We were docked in Puerto Vallarta, and my sister and I had met a few other kids during our trip. There was this one hotel by the marina that had a swimming pool, and we’d all go there to hang out and play and just do kids stuff.

At the pool there was a deep dive tank, and there was a shallow area for wading around. My sister and all our friends would all be in the dive tank, jumping off the diving board and swimming to the bottom of the tank. I was jealous.

I was jealous because I was stuck in the shallow end with get this....a lifejacket. That’s right. Even though I was tall enough to touch the bottom, I still had a lifejacket on because I scared. I was scared of drowning in a shallow pool.

I wanted to be in that dive tank with my friends too. I can see them having so much fun, and I was missing out on it because I was scared. That’s when my jealousy started turning to anger. I was slowly getting pissed. I got so pissed off, and so angry, that I ripped of my lifejacket, charged up to the dive tank, and dove right in.

It was sink or swim for me, and I swam.

I conquered my fear, and I challenged myself to take on a fear that had scared me for too long.

Now look at me. I was able to get into triathlons later in life. And my love for triathlons has taken me around the world. I’ve been to Switzerland and Australia for races. I got to explore parts of Canada I never would have gone to if it weren’t for triathlons. All because I overcame my fear of the water.

What’s your greatest fear? Why does it scare you? Whatever it is, don’t let that fear get in the way of living your life.