What is fear? Does it come by birth? How can I overcome my fear?
When I was a kid, I had Thalassophobia (fear of deep water), Acrophobia (fear of heights) and Nyctophobia (fear of dark). It might seem common but I was very afraid.
So, in one of my summer vacations, my parents sent me to a swimming academy. I felt helpless about what I would do. I had a trainer there. I told him that I am afraid of deep water. I might die so please teach me in the baby swimming pool. He laughed at me and took me to the baby swimming pool. He held my head and asked me to put my head inside water and breathe in water for 10 seconds. I started crying as I was so afraid that I was not even giving it a try. I ran away. He asked me if I really want to swim or not. I said yes but I would die if I went into the pool. He then calmed me down and asked me to go inside the pool and do whatever I want. I don’t know why I got so happy and excited. I thanked him and dived into the water. I forgot about any fear and danced in water.
Then he came and told me that he let me do what I wanted so now I had to return the favor. I started to panic again but finally I decided to give it a try. I couldn’t put my head inside the water but he did it forcefully. I panicked and felt like I was drowning but after 10 seconds he pulled me out of water. I was alive. I cried but I did it again and learned. Luckily, I overcame my fear of deep water and learned to swim in 2 weeks. I swam in the adult’s pool and also won one swimming race with adults.
When I grew up a little, I thought about this incident and decided to overcome my other fears. I traveled to some hill stations and climbed different heights. And I started sleeping with the lights switched off. I slowly overcame these fears and I was quite surprised with myself. I did it and now I want to scuba dive, bungee jump, skydiving and fly a helicopter.
So, for me, fear is a feeling of being afraid of something which might happen when you perform a particular action. This feeling doesn’t come by birth in spite we fabricate this due to our mindset about a particular situation. Hence, it is created by ourselves and can be overcome by ourselves only. You just need to have the will power to fight it.
Fear is a choice. Confront it. Move toward it and face it. Deal with it directly. It is your own invention.
Your actions are based upon your feelings and vice versa. So, if you feel fear; act against it, which will create a feeling against your fear and you will overcome the fear just like that.
Written by – Devanshi Saxena
Wanderers 