Just thought I'd write something on fear, and something I have noticed within myself lately.

As some of you may recall, I have over the past few months being taking ice skating lessons, and with that, there has naturally been some fear. My first lesson, when we were told to do a one foot glide, I thought the coach had lost her marbles, as everyone knows when learning, you need to keep both feet on the ground, or the ice in this case - right? Wrong! Two feet on the ice means you are playing it safe, and not challenging yourself. Granted, yes, over the past few months I have made friends with the ice, in more ways than one .

Anyway, despite my current mounting bruise tally, I am finding that facing these kind of fears, is having a knock on effect in facing other fears, and wanting to challenge myself more.

Has anyone else ever found this, as in when the face fears through a hobby/sport etc, it has a knock on effect of them facing emotional based fears too.

Hi there Orna,

Very interesting and great question!

Yes, I think when I do something that I am afraid of with the purpose of facing the fear and I notice that it didn't happen the way I though it would, it does give me the courage to start facing other fears.

For me accepting that the fear is coming from within myself helps me to realize that I have a choice and can change.

Thanks for the thought provoking question :) Hope you are having fun with the ice skating.

Very best wishes

Spriggan

Orna
This is so true, though i had never actually thought about it. Once you face a fear, whether it is in sports or elsewhere the other fears suddenly seem less scary. who was it that said that courage was not have no fears but feeling the fear and doing it anyway? Once you feed that then it just grows and grows and reverberates through all aspects of life.
I will have to seriously think on this, since I know certain fears of mine hold me back a lot!
Spriggan your point about it coming from me is important too...LOL it's something I KNOW but don't know....does that make any sense at all?

Thank you for this timely message/thought.

Hiya Laiste,

It makes perfect sense. I've found I can know something intellectually but not understood it until I've really experienced it eg like seeing how a fear of a situation can change my behavior (at times in a negative way) towards other people.

Wishes of the very best kind

Spriggan

I'm gonna share my daughter's experience.

She's a high school freshman this year, and in marching band. At the beginning of band season (5 days after the last day of school) she had still not committed to the idea of being in band. She was nervous to the point of nausea. (graphic warning: when she gets freaked out badly enough she throws up)

Even as I drove her to the first band camp she was looking like a deer in the headlights moments before impact. All summer long she faced up to that fear, and more criticism than she'd ever received in her life- most of which came over a loud speaker for everyone in band and the neighboring community to hear. Her response was generally "Yes sir, I will fix that" she took the criticism, and held her anxiety inside until she was in a quiet place to deal with it privately. By the time competition season started she had dealt with her deamons, learned her drill, mastered her solo (she's the only freshman with a solo - and on an instrument she'd never set eyes on before joining marching band - with no teacher but herself). The season is more or less over (a couple of football games are all she has left and she misses the (insane) schedule so much she's thinking about going out for indoor drum line in the winter - more instruments to learn from scratch.

Her last competition was 2 weeks ago, we got back from it at 1am on Monday morning and the band had to go to school that day. Not only did she go to school but she stayed late so she could join the stage crew for the school play - despite the fact that they'd already been working for 2 months - she heard there was a need for one or 2 more helpers so she just jumped in without thinking - no fears!

I've been told by several color guard members and some band kids that she's their favorite freshman/new band member... because of the way she took on the challenges, maturely (at least in public) handled all the potentially humiliating criticsm and just did what needed to be done with grace and even managed to smile her way through the summer and the season.

She's my hero!

Favorite Froud Book? Goblins

Thanks for all your replies.

I am certainly loving the ice skating. I recently mastered my forward crossovers, and now love them, whereas before used to dream them - funny how the switch has happened