Tryst with fears- Turn your fear to feat
Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it;
that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear- Dale Carnegie
How often have we been put down by our own thoughts, sentiments of how other people will react to our actions, or simply with the ‘fear’ of failing? They say that destiny is decided on not what we would like to do but we actually end up doing. And the interesting fact is that latter depends on two critical factors: what we love doing and what we fear to not do. Here in this article, I will talk about the fear factor with examples of how I conquered my fears to feats.
Napoleon Hill in his classic book, “Think and Grow Rick” details the 6 ghosts of fear.
He talks about fear of poverty, fear of criticism, fear of loss of love, fear of ill health, fear of old age and the fear of death.
Summarizing, his explanation, the 6 ghosts are nothing but imaginary ghosts which are there to keep you from reaching your maximum potential. There is no one who have lived a fulfilling life being drowned in the fears of life. So, what can we do to get this state of mind?
Here is an account of my tryst with fear for you to be inspired to excel your fears:
- Shoulders back, stand straight and deliver: Standing in-front of a 100 people audience, frozen, there was this boy who forgot all his script standing at the podium. He had the fear of speaking to a large crowd specially when addressing from the stage. 15 years later, he stands in-front of 500 people and delivers a flawless speech and people love to hear him speaking. Time doesn’t count now. That boy is me and I take account of that speech in my school days and today when I deliver talks in colleges and schools. What happened in between was many trials with public speaking, learning with practice and facing the audience one group at a time. I chose to start with people I knew well where the fear of being criticized was the least (my university days) and then slowly to the institutions that I knew. Every step was important where it taught me lessons to improve on my weaknesses. In the end what counted was my desire to improve on public speaking and practicing it on various opportunities. Ever since I started public speaking, I have spoken to over 5000 people across 18 institutions including schools, universities and professional groups.
2. Jump , you will learn to fly: At a height of 83m, standing on the cliff and watching the mighty Ganges flowing under me, my head was going lighter. With the guide continually asking me not to see down, I realised I was passing out. In that moment, my heart spoke to head,
jumping in the passed out phase won’t be fun. There’s no way that you can retract, so take the leap and enjoy the free fall.
With the count of 3, a deep breath and the will to fight my fear of heights, I jumped. Bunjee jump being the first of the day was mystic, reminding me of the skydive 4 years ago. High adrenaline, fast breaths, incredible feeling and freedom of a bird is what I felt as I went down. An interesting thought cropped up as I bounced back up.
The thought of going a step further, taking a leap towards uncertain and defeating my fear.
And I learnt that the fun doesn’t lie in staying in the comfort zone but it is when you leap forward towards your weakness and defeat it.
3. Beating myself- Finishing a Triathlon: Fear becomes scary and defeats you when it gets to the head without being analysed well.
One of many ways I figured to defeat fear was by application of a simple principle in life “Perceive, believe and achieve”.
The moment you perceive what fear you want to defeat and believe in yourself, you shall achieve success. I was challenged (in June 2018)by a friend for the New Delhi Triathlon competition to be held on 25th November 2018. Challenges are the differentiating factor that makes you thrive than just survive. I accepted the challenge. The competition for Triathlon Sprint category required 800m swimming, 21kms cycling and 5 kms run all at once in 150 mins duration. In June’18, I did not know swimming and had never participated in any kind of sports competition ever (as my memory goes since high school). I learnt swimming in 3 months, participated in a criterium to test my cycling skills and ran daily to boost up my preparation. Tragedy hit when one day before ‘the day’, i.e. 24th November, I was diagnosed with low BP during pre-event medical check up and was advised to not continue for the competition next day.
He who fears has lost the battle before he fights.
I endured the challenge and went ahead to participate for the competition.
On the day, into my 4th lap, a trailing swimmer trumped his hand onto my chest and I got drowned 20 feet deep into the Olympic sized pool at Talkatora Stadium in Delhi. Almost frozen with fear, I don’t remember how I managed to reach the post which fortunately was just 10 feet away. With deep breaths and some sips of energy drink, I finally completed 16 laps within the allotted time.
Hurrying into the cycling stretch, I cycled first 5kms with ease until another disaster happened. A novice volunteer in an attempt to give me water, got his hand stuck onto my cycle and I toppled. I got a bleeding knee now with 60% of the competition still to be conquered. I persevered, put on a cloth on the wound and completed cycling 21kms. With knee not in a good shape but still no option to back out, I got first aid before starting the 3rd and final stretch of a 5km run. Thanks to the volunteers of the event, they cheered, I backed myself and completed the first Triathlon of my life with 5 mins to spare. That’s 800m swimming, 21kms cycling and 5 kms run all at once in 145 mins.
PERSEVERE, because it is an ultimate way to convert your fear to feat and get where you want and deserve to be.
I love adventure sports because it takes you to the brink of life and then brings back to normal. It makes you realize the value of the life we have and motivates you to work for your purpose.
We live in a world where people sell fear. Insurance companies sell fear of accident and death, priests sell fear of God, economists sell fear of recession and we sell ourselves ‘fear of failure’. Whatever it is, I challenge you to identify your fear and face it head on. I challenge you to beat the shit out of the thing that is keeping you down. I challenge you to walk beyond your own set boundaries and live your life as you would dream when you knew no boundaries.
Higher and farther from here!
