Why do we do things that scare the crap out of us?

Day 24 #44DayWritingChallenge

This year I did something unexpected and challenging beyond what I thought I was capable of, I started working on my own business called On The List Melbourne which I’ll elaborate on another time. Along the way I’ve picked up some amazing people who have really helped me bring On The List to life and I am incredibly grateful for their generosity. So, to say thank you I invited them all out on my families little boat for a few hours on the water today and what a lovely day we had, until we decided to actually take the boat out.

 

We spent the first few hours sitting around drinking and stuffing out faces with dip and when the wind seemed to have calmed down enough my mum’s partner Steve suggested we have a crack at taking the boat down to the Docklands. I’ve spent loads and loads of time on this boat but I have NEVER experienced a choppy ride like this. It was so insanely bumpy we were flying through the water and we were having a screaming ball with it, except for one of my gorgeous Listy’s who was less than thrilled with the experience. She was having a nightmare of a time and didn’t know what to do with herself. She was gripping onto the table and the rail with every fiber of her body and truly panicked by the experience the poor darling.

 

It reminded me of times when I’ve gone on a theme park ride and thought it seemed like it would be a huge thrill but in the end I hate every second of it. Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we put ourselves in situations that scare the crap out of us? I know today my gorgeous friend didn’t realise the situation she was putting herself in, and honestly I didn’t realise either but often we do it willingly to ourselves. I remember one time my mum was on one of these self development retreats that had a task which was to jump on this flying fox thing mega high off the ground and ‘let go’ of whatever you were holding onto (or something like that) and she flat out refused to do it. She is petrified of heights and the trauma of actually doing it would be worse that the experience of ‘letting go’, so she didn’t do it. They tried to philosophically talk her through how this was just her inner self not having the courage to let go blah blah and she told them to shove it and went for a nurturing walk in the forest instead. I think we do use these ‘scare the crap out of us’ experiences to try and metaphorically symbolize something else in our lives. And to that I say shut up. Seriously I don’t need a freaking frightening 150 foot drop at a theme park to tell me I’m brave and courageous and can do anything. Here’s my hot tip, if you want to test those traits – start a business!

 

I’m all for challenging yourself but don’t do it if it leaves you feeling shit in any way. Just my thoughts.

 

Candy x

 




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