Is It Safe to Get in the Water? The fun on the other side of fear.

When she was growing up and spending time with me each summer, my granddaughter and I planned a memorable excursion to top off her trip.

One year we decided to expand the idea and invited my sister and nephew along with us. We took a trip to San Antonio and spent several days just taking in all the sites: Sea World, The Alamo, The River Walk, and even Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum. The last one seemed to be a favorite of the kids.

One place we chose near the end of the trip was the Schlitterbahn Waterpark. Water is a favorite sound for me, but I didn’t ever actually get in it. I didn’t know how to swim. I wasn’t about to slide down that steep water chute into this vast pool of water. It looked like sudden death to me.

They convinced me, though, to try one of the other attractions.

It took me a time or two around the waterway to understand why they called it “The Lazy River.”  I stepped into fear when I stepped into the water. However irrational it may be, it’s tough to enjoy what you’re doing when fear paralyzes you. I was determined, though, to not step out of the water until I had beaten the fear.

It took those two complete turns around the circuit before I relaxed enough to let the water carry me instead of fighting it as the enemy.

Then it happened. Once I got to the other side of my fear, I found the fun everyone else was experiencing.

That trip was many years ago, and yet, it serves me still. I remind myself that peeking around the corner, just on the other side of fear, is something worth finding. It may be love, acceptance, a sense of accomplishment, or satisfaction. Or even all the above.

We can be confident that we will see it’s worth the ride to get to this new place when we look back.

I used to ask myself if something was safe.  Now I ask if it’s worth it. And then I ask: How can I make this fun?  Seems to work every time.

Just on the other side of fear is everything. Even, it seems, fun.