When I was six years old, I took my first swimming class, It was vacation time.
At the beginning of the classes, I was doing good, I was able to actually swim, but of course, bragging about my early swimming skills is not what I came for. At the end of the classes, towards the end of vacations the teacher told all the kids to jump from the diving board, the catch: It was really deep, or I thought it was really deep
It was three meters deep, which in reality is rather standard but, I was of course slightly over a meter tall and there was something about the deep side of the pool that scared me a lot, even though I could swim…
It was of course, irrational fear. The teacher tried to convince me by talking to me, he said all nice things you could think of to convince me but of course that didn’t work.
What he did after all the nice talk? He pushed me into the deep part of the swimming pool, he believed in me more than I believed in myself…
Looking back, it was definitely something that changed my perspective on everything.
Did I hated the teacher? F no. After he pushed me in order to survive I had to swim and then I realized, Hey I can swim… I will be grateful for this big life lesson all my life.
That didn’t change my view on life immediately but looking back it was one of the best lessons someone have ever thought me.
If we compare the world to the swimming pool, we could say that the world has to parts, the part that we perceive as deep and the part that we feel comfortable swimming.
Is human nature to avoid the deep side, since our fear, which more often than not is irrational, will cloud any ability we have, chances are: if you have the skills to get by on what you consider comfortable it would only take someone else to push you or a lot of self-determination to push yourself.
Starting at something that we have no idea, like poker when I started or my own company right now,might seem scary at the beginning, but chances are is not nearly as bad as we think it is.
Give yourself a chance, even the worst case scenario is not nearly as bad as it look, there’s always going to be a life guard to help you (call it family, friends or even the government).
Lesson: Don’t be afraid, just jump.
Original photo from: harikrishnanb
