Last week I was in Florida at my family’s annual Fourth of July trip. Every year we rent a house on the beach where around 17 of us gather for some R & R. Typical daily activities include eating, sunbathing, drinking adult beverages and eating some more. Some of us venture out and kayak or scuba dive but for the most part, we park it on the beach and just hang.
It’s so lovely, though more difficult than it sounds when you’re used to being busy all the time. It can actually be hard to do nothing. It’s not until I board my plane each summer and literally feel my muscles start to melt into my seat that I realize how much I need that time away. How very important it is to vacate your life or at least take a break for a bit.
So mid-week came and our itinerary was unchanged from previous years. Wake up, eat a leisurely breakfast, then slowly make our way out to the shore. But on Wednesday afternoon, my cousin Jourdan came into the house and rather urgently requested we get down to the beach right away.
“Make sure you’re down there in 2 minutes!”
Hm. That’s funny, I thought. There’s never a rush to do anything around here.
Exactly two minutes later, we hear this buzzing noise coming toward us and there appeared this itty bitty flying machine. Looked like part jet ski, part hand glider. Someone scrambled for the binoculars and all of us stood mouths open wide.
“No way!”
There was Ashton, one of my cousins, seated in that crazy looking flying mobile.
Shouts of excited came over everyone as we found out that there were 7 of us going up. My Uncle Mark turned to me and said, “Ingrid. There’s room for you to get on there too!”
Oy. Have I mentioned lately about my fear of heights? It’s not horrible but I certainly choose to stay away from activities that involve venturing higher than a one story building. But I thought, if given the chance, I’ll do it. If my 10-year-old cousin can do it, so can I!
And I did.
Can’t say I wasn’t freaking out almost the entire time I was up there but once I was back on solid ground, I can say I’m SO glad I did it.
Especially as we get older, we develop all these fears and almost ALL of them are irrational! Though I must say, when the pilot initially sensed my trepidation, he did commend me.
“If you’re scared that means you’re intelligent. It’s the ones that get on here and have no fear whatsoever that have no wits about them. If you’re smart, you’ll be a bit scared.”
Not that that eased my fears much but I will say I learned how important it is to challenge ourselves. Especially in terms of fear. Because when we do things that scare us and live through it, we soon start to realize there’s no real reason to fear. And that doing things that scare us can actually be quite fun!
I’m just grateful I have a family that gets me out of my box. Can only imagine what they have in store for next year. 😀
So how bout you? Is there anything in life that you’d love to do but are too scared? Have you ever done something you were afraid of? How’d it turn out? What’s one thing you could do TODAY to overcome an irrational fear?
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Ingrid Schaffenburg's Blog 
At last, the age of the Jetsons arrives: personal flying machines! Bravo for braving the heights! Looks a little sketchy. Glad to know that fear is a symptom of intelligence.
ha! Right!? Very good to know. Though I would call it a healthy sense of awareness rather than intelligence. But I guess that IS intelligence 😉
You’re definitely braver than me, my feet will remain firmly planted on the ground. Lol.
ha! Smart. 600 feet in the air hanging by a bit of metal is not my norm for sure!
Well done. And I miss flying. 😦
Go fly Shawn! Treat yourself. You deserve it 🙂
I had a chance to go hang gliding with my sister, nephew and niece when on holiday in Puerto Rico, it was such a beautiful day, and I was too scared…now I’m not in any of the pictures 😦 …next time I’m not saying no. Thanks for your story.
You’re welcome. But not sure I could’ve said yes either. haha! If you go next time, let me know how it goes!