I get SCARED… but usually when it’s too late. 😂😂😂
Most of the time when I try something new, I get so excited about the trick/apparatus/activity that I completely forget one important detail:
New things are hard. And sometimes terrifying.
I signed up for swinging trapeze because I saw my now-circus-friends training and it looked F.U.N.
But the first time I got there, I quickly realized that I had to:
1) climb a rope two storeys high just to reach the trapeze bar,
2) SWING myself up using my own muscles?!?, and
3) eventually… jump off and catch the bar.
I can’t even describe the internal panic just on step 1.
I climbed up there and questioned my life choices. In fact, to this day, when I’m sitting up there before my friends/coach give me a pull to start swinging, I still ask myself, “Why do I do this?” 😂 Sometimes I even ask out loud, and my coach tells me, “Because you love it!” And I do. 🥰
The adrenaline takes over and the pure focus it takes to execute time-sensitive tricks in the air… the entire world melts away. All I have to think about is what my body needs to do the very next second. Nothing else can bother me.
The first time I got up on the flying trapeze platform was another “I shouldn’t trust myself with big decisions” moment. Hilariously, I couldn’t make myself jump off when the coach cued “Hep!”. But after they explained that timing in circus is non-negotiable, I had to snap out of the fear.
So do I get scared? Yes. All the time.
I’m the one whining and screaming my way through tricks while still doing them anyway. Luckily, my circus coaches and friends seem to find this funny. (Or I’m secretly very annoying. 😬🫣😂)
So there’s no wisdom here except: Fun >>> Fear
Life gets amazing when you don’t let fear stop you.