Confronting your fear

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A lot of people have a hard time in overcoming their fear. Their fears of height, swimming, speaking in a crowd, and whatever comes to mind. I used to have a lot. Swimming, how did I overcome it? I may not be the best swimmer, but I learned how to stay afloat and at least move forward inside the pool or the beach. I dare not swim too far if it were in the beach, but I can say that I've successfully become confident in overcoming my fear of dipping myself into the blue. Speaking in a crowd, I slowly overcame this fear when I enrolled myself in our school's drama club in elementary which was directed by our then very strict Sister-principal. I realized that I can stand infront of an audience and make them appreciate my act through my performance. Being in drama club, didn't only teach me how to act, but apply the ability to express words and actions in variation that creates different feedback from another person's perspective. It tested my creativity and it helped me gain courage. I can also not imagine not liking dogs for quite some time, because I got bitten by a dog in second grade, when I ran towards it without me seeing it from a corner. Since I loved puppies and different kinds of dog pictures, I told myself, why can I not touch them and why should I continue fearing them because of my experience in the past. It wasn't a pleasant memory, but I know, I would like to keep a dog for a companion. Not wanting to miss out on this opportunity, I started by having myself get used to the company of puppies who don't bit so hard and learn from experts on how not to upset them and what are the right way to deal with them. Slowly gaining confidence in how to treat a dog correctly, I was able to learn how to act around them and how I can appreciate their presence a lot more. All of these can be someone else's scariest experience in the past, but if we don't give ourselves the chance to outgrow the fear and learn how to better deal with situations, then the courage will never be accomplished and felt. It's true that this can be easily said than done, but if you, yourself don't take that first step to change, you will never know if you will ever overcome the fear. Sometimes, conditioning your mind helps in overcoming your challenges. I'd like to think that by trying to bungee jump from a tall height can also give me the satisfaction of seeing another angle of the world that can be rarely seen unless acted upon. How will you overcome yours?