With Some Grace

Everyday Experiences, Lifelong Learnings

FYBF – Fears, Tears and Belly Laughs (Part 1)

By: mamagrace7155 Comments

Welcome to the Fears, Tears and Belly Laughs series!

While I’m on holidays, I’ve asked some very special bloggers to share a story based on one of the prompts and wow wee, what a great line up!

Please make sure you leave some comment love for each guest blogger. The more love we give out, in tenfold it returns.

First up, we have Lisa from Write Like You Mean It. Lisa is a WA-based midwife, writer and blogger as well as mum to three boys. She can be often be found kid-wrangling, reading the latest crime novel and catching babies as they come into the world.

Catch Lisa over on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

kbfox

Hello there, Grace has kindly asked for volunteers to write about Fears, Tears or Laughs. I have placed my hand timidly in the air to talk about fear.

There has been one fear that has ruled my whole life.  I am terrified of heights. I stand on a step-ladder and I feel dizzy. I walk onto a bridge and I feel like throwing up.

hbfox

I have tried all sorts of things to cure my fear. I have jumped out of a perfectly good plane and sky dived 12,000 feet. I still walk tentatively across wooden bridges while some young idiot is swinging the bridge and defying gravity at the same time. I have completed tree top walks, hundreds of metres above the ground. I have been in an open sky rail seat coasting across the picture postcard views of Italy in the air, knuckles white in fear.

No matter what I have tried to do to cure my fear, I am still petrified of falling to my death and leaving a mess on the ground for my loved ones to clean up.

Over the school holidays our little family of five and some friends stayed at bush camp holiday village. No TV. No phone or internet connection (No, this not the fear factor part of the story) Off the grid for four days.

But they did have a flying fox.

flyingfox2

A flying fox that is three to four metres in height off the ground. It consisted of a cable tie, basic pulley system and a tyre seat.  I had flashbacks to the 1980’s all over again.

So after the brave 5 year old kids had a fly, it was my turn to take my own kids. My husband was at the other end of the flying fox, ready to catch us.

Remember that saying, jump off the edge and the universe will catch you?

Umm, it was nothing like that.

I sat my backside in this snug tyre chair (remind me to lay off the cheese platter at happy hour next time) with my 5 year old sitting on my knee.

(If you are reading this and involved in work safety, you might want to look away for the next few sentences).

Clinging on for dear life, I made the mistake of looking down. My mind was starting to play tricks on me. Those fear feelings were coming back to me.

My heart was in my mouth. And lunch.

flyingfox3

Then all of a sudden, I felt the wooden floor beneath me disappear as we flew across the treetops.  My fear vanished as I heard the laughter of my son echo throughout the campsite.  We landed at the other end with a thud, as the tyre seat dragged across the gravel and caught by my husband.

We did it.

We had conquered the flying fox and lived to see another day.

The thing I have learnt over the years is that fear is about the unknown. A mind over matter situation, your mind playing tricks on you.

What is on the other side of fear?

A new adventure, a new opportunity, or growth.

What are you afraid of?  Do you like flying foxes? Or are you more scared of lack of technology while on holidays?

Thanks Grace for having me over on your blog today, I appreciate the opportunity and look forward to reading everyone’s stories in the series.

 

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Comments

    • Lisa says

      I understand why you would feel that way, I often think my inside personality is different to what I portray to the world. I am not scared of being out of control, I am scared of plummeting to the ground to my death. (Such an optimist aren’t I?)
      Lisa recently posted..A Snapshot of MelbourneMy Profile

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  16. Kathy - yinyangmother says

    Well done on he flying fox. It seems like you are nailing that fear of heights – especially with the sky diving. I’ve been in an ultra-light (single engine), glider (no engine!), hot-air balloon (ditto) and I’ve even been in a Blackhawk helicopter during a formation landing exercise (all this during my time as a journalist). But I don’t know about the sky-diving.
    Kathy – yinyangmother recently posted..Endings and beginning againMy Profile

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  17. Kylie Purtell - A Study in Contradictions says

    Nice work! Thankfully I’ve not had too much of a fear of heights, I mostly love them. I’m not too sure what my biggest fear is, it’s not really something tangible. It’s more a fear of failure I guess. Fear that I’ll fail to reach my full potential, that I won’t use my time on this earth wisely. It’s good and bad though, because that fear pushes me to do things that I might not otherwise do, so that has to be a good thing, right?!
    Kylie Purtell – A Study in Contradictions recently posted..4 Simple Ways to Improve Your Sleep | LifestyleMy Profile

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  19. Emily says

    Wow. I’m impressed at the things you’ve done to try to overcome your fear. I’m afraid of heights, and I won’t never I mean NEVER NUH-HUH GIRLFRIEND jump out of a plane or try bungee-jumping! NO WAY!
    I do love our local flying fox, though. But I can touch the ground when I sit on it, so same-same but not at all. x
    Emily recently posted..Top web reads of NovemberMy Profile

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  22. Tamuria says

    Wow you were so brave to take that first step! I’m not sure if I’d have the guts. I’m not especially scared of heights but flying through the air with just a little cord holding me up kind of unnerves me. My biggest fear is rats – I think it’s to do with their tails as I once had a pet hamster and they’re very rat-like.
    Tamuria recently posted..BABYSITTING BATTLEGROUND – how much is too much?My Profile

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  24. Mary Denman says

    I’m so impressed that you jumped out of a plane to try and conquer your fear! I want to jump out of a plane at least once in my life.

    My fears aren’t as outward. It’s more the fear of failing. It’s not as easy to identify as a fear of heights. Hence, it’s hard to try and conquer. But you’ve made me think about it! I need to learn to recognize it and do something about it when it hampers my ability to move forward.

    I hope you have a great day Lisa!
    Mary Denman recently posted..Photo Tip Friday: Understanding How to Crop PhotosMy Profile

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