Fear is there for you to overcome. (concentrate on your goals and fear will disappear)
Went for a short break in Nov with D and 2 other friends, this beach resort has a nice clean looking pool which we decided to take a swim.
We didn’t know that the swimming pool there is an area which is 3m deep. The gals all stayed away from the deep side as they were not very well versed in their swimming. As being out in the seas for almost 4 years for ECA in my secondary school days, the 3m deep pool didn’t really bother me. However when I swam over and realised that my feet are unable to touch the pool floor, i panicked. I did not realise that my secondary school days were X years back, and I have not been in the water for that long! Fear rushed into my mind. I was sinking quick.
After few seconds of struggling, I decided to let myself sink, took a deep breathe and regained my cool. Concentrate, kicked my strokes and I was swimming again.
One peculiar thing about this pool is that, the pool floor of the 3m area in the pool has a lighter blue then the rest of the walls and floor, which highlights to swimmers they are in a deep area. I swam a few laps, and the light blue area is starting to intimidate me. “You are in the deep zone, danger!” is haunting me as I swim. This thought induced fear in me causing hindrance to my actions. Several times I have lost concentration whilst in the deep area and lost my breathe.
After a few laps of breathless incident, I stopped to ponder. I know I can swim quite well, but why is it whenever I reach the deeper ends of the pool I will lost concentration and my lose my breathe at the same time? The answer, is fear.
Visual of light blue area → 3m deep → danger signals sent into brain → fear → lose concentration and control
That is exactly what happened in the process. When I have concluded the cause, I tried to swim another lap, this time round I looked in front, instead of looking down. Hey it worked! I swam for 3 laps continuously effortlessly. It just happens that:
Concentrate on the other side of the pool (target) → mind will concentrate on hitting target → you will not think of other things, including fears → your fears will be eliminated
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When you need to do something but have fears and doubts about it, one of the most effective way to clear your doubts is to concentrate on your targets, not your fears. In that way you should be able to accomplish most of the things within your ability.
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