Mr. X: What is your weakness?
Me: I am a very fearful person.
Yes, fearfulness! It is indeed a weakness. A big one. It
limits me. It stops me from experimenting and experiencing. So I decided to
remove it from my weakness list. There were a lot of things I feared. Fear of
public speeches, fear of speaking the truth, fear of standing up for who I am,
fear of being judged, fear of being rejected and the list just goes on. I
worked on all of them and still am working on them.
These may
look like petty things to worry about, but if we work on them now, it will help
us go a long way. Working on such weaknesses and fears need conviction and
strength.
Apart from
the above fears I also had a major fear. The fear of water! I was scared to
step into swimming pools and go near large amounts of water. (P.S: I take a
bath every day. That isn’t part of my hydrophobia). This fear of mine pestered
me for quite a while. While on family vacations I’d feel so embarrassed and
frightened to step into the pool. This fear was all in my mind. I knew I am not
supposed to get scared. Water is not going to kill me. In spite of being aware
of such facts I was scared.
So I decided
that there is no point in living with a fear I can overcome. Hence, I decided
to join swimming classes. That was one of the ways I’d be able to face my fear
in the right way. I was really scared to enroll at first. My mind tried to play
a lot of games with me but I just had to take the first step and there was no
turning back from then on. I finally did learn to swim. I’d go for class
everyday and come out a little less fearful after every class. I almost
revisited my fear at one point when I was asked to swim in deep waters. I just couldn’t.
My hands and legs would shake with fear. But then I thought ‘What’s the point
of learning to swim in 3 or 4 ft. The real challenge is a 7 or 8 ft. If I
cannot do that there is no point in me feeling proud about having taken that
step to overcome my fear.
I woke up
the next day and went for my swimming class. I jumped into the shallow water
and swam. I could swim but as soon as I thought about going to deep I’d get
scared and lose breathe. But I had made my mind that I will not leave the pool
until I go into deep and prove to have overcome my fear. My mentor took me to
deep and pushed me right in. I swam , swam and swam. A little scared. A little happy.
A little panicky. A little delighted. And when I reached the other side there
was a smile on my face.
Sir: You’d like to go again?
Me: Yes Sir. :D
THERE ARE A LOT MORE FEARS TO OVERCOME. I HAVE JUST TAKEN
THE FIRST STEP. THERE ARE MANY MORE TO COME!
