After reading 65+ entries to the Get Gutsy Essay Contest, over the next few days, I’m thrilled to share the winning entries! Be sure to click over to this post to read the gutsy stories from 66 inspiring participants.
The third winning entry comes from Kate Sommerkamp from the fabulous travel blog Kate Goes Global. Kate’s story captured my attention because she writes about a fear- a practical fear- that so many of us may experience. But more than that, Kate writes about how she overcame that fear and bettered herself through the experience.
Let Kate’s words inspire you.
Looking out to my left, I felt equally excited and terrified – I was sitting on a chair lift up to Kriegerhorn (2173m), Austria, watching the pros slide down a steep mountain. So graceful, so confident – so fearless.
Weeks before, I had spent a day browsing through winter sports apparel in London – convincing myself that, to ski well, I required the perfect equipment. I watched videos, trying hard to remember what I had to do with my weight in order to make a turn. I wanted to hit the pistes skiing with confidence, like I’ve never done before.
Back on that chair lift, though, I began to have my doubts.
Hmmm…visibility isn’t that good, I need to go extra slow. But wait, this is getting a bit too steep for me. Oh, look how fast they go! I can’t control my speed that well. Heck, I can’t even turn that well! What am I doing? What was I thinking?! Can you please take me back down again?
I have a secret: I’m afraid of falling (ok, so it’s not that much of a secret anymore…).
The truth is, whenever I am faced with a steep slope or a narrow uneven path (whether I’m on skis or just on my own feet), I have the feeling that I may loose my balance. I recognise the pattern: my heart beat accelerates, my breathing quickens and overall I feel tense. In the worst cases, though – I am literally paralysed. It might only be a few seconds or it might be 10 minutes. All I know is that to me it feels like a lifetime.
I should limit my activities to snorkelling and sunbathing (both of which I love, too). But I can’t. I love the outdoors – particularly mountains. And volcanoes. Oh, and challenging hikes around mountains and volcanoes!
While it hasn’t always been easy, I constantly aim to challenge my irrational fear of loosing balance and falling. The thought of all the breathtaking views and unforgettable experiences that await at the top of those mountains give me enough courage to break through my limiting thoughts and reach higher.
So, back on the chair lift in Austria, I could have let my thoughts send me back down the same way I went up. But instead, I gracefully got off the chair lift with a heart that felt like it was going to jump out of my chest and fall down the mountains all by itself any second. I moved slow – so slow that sometimes it felt I was actually skiing up the mountain, not down. But I kept on moving – and each time new scary thoughts came into my mind, I tried my best to imagine a mental door and let them go.
I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that all went great on this trip.
I did fall (not as often as I expected) and it was embarrassing (specially that one time I lost both skis!). I twisted my wrist trying to get up again after falling into deep powder snow (which, otherwise, is more fun that Christmas itself!). And I froze of fear. Once. It wasn’t pretty.
But you know what? I got over it.
What I learned from this trip is that skiing might be a lot about technique – but a lot of it is trust, too. Trust in your equipment, your skills and your balance – but over everything else: trust in yourself – specially when the scary gets particularly tough.
Getting gutsy for me is precisely that – trusting myself when it gets challenging. Pushing myself to the limit, getting uncomfortable and constantly confront my fear of falling. It’s beyond bravery. It’s daring to go ahead in spite of the doubtful part of my conscience.
It’s doing something that scares me.
This post was written by Kate Sommerkamp as part of the Get Gutsy Essay Contest. Be sure to click over to Kate’s blog to read the original post and stick around for more great content.
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