Fun in The Sun

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

It was like any other Saturday, friends and family spending time at a local lake, having some fun in the sun, swimming and water tubing.  When I was younger, I had always wanted to water tube.  So to me, the thought of it sounded thrilling and frightening all at once.  All sorts of worse case scenerios played in my mind now that this opportunity presented itself years later.  What if something precious got hurt?  Me!!!  I convinced myself that I will be quite happy watching from the sidelines and chatting with those on the bank. Although my friend was so keen to go tubing from the start and I was quite happy to wave her off or so I thought?

First of all I watched from the shore and chatted for a while, but the sun was gettting hotter and hotter and that water looked so inviting.  My friend asked again, would I like to go tubing?  I couldn't answer with  any real certainity and replied that the boat sounds inviting and I was willing to watch in the boat.  

Finally my boat came around and the ride was thrilling and awesome.  I could do this again. This is enough.  I am quite happy with the boat, or was I really?  I just need a little more confidence before I go tubing.  Maybe next time, I will do it then.  Another boat ride, please.  I even told my friend, I will watch her from the boat. This seemed like a pretty good deal.   I was trying so hard to convince myself that this was the best option for me.

And then my friend did the unthinkable, the unimaginable, the incomprehendable.  'Bronny and I want to go watertubing... our turn!!'  'Really?' I replied.  My thoughts were racing - Oh my!  what do I do now? She said this in front of everyone.  By this time, a couple of hours had  already passed and almost everyone had a turn by now.  Nerves started to rise within me.  I had seen people fall off not so long ago and they seemed alright, but I was different, it might hurt me.  I could not bring myself to say no.  I did want to go, but it was just... well you know what I mean.  Many excuses came to mind, but nothing escaped my lips.

 

I tried on nearly every life jacket.  Oh that's got me off the hook... I will go next time, I will lose a little more weight and then I will be ready.  They finally found a lifejacket that fitted me, really fitted me.  I waddled over to the boat and before I got on the tube, spoke with the driver about how tender and precious I am, please be gentle and take it slow. I repeated this a few times, just in case he didn't hear me the first time.  

So brace yourselves because a picture speaks a 1000 words and four pictures speak 4000... (LOL)

   

Well, that's what I did on Saturday, I stepped outside the box and faced a fear right in the face, with a little convincing from my friend.  I had the best time ever... can you tell?  I am definitely doing that again.  How can I go wrong?  with a life jacket on. One challenge would be to get back into the tube (LOL) but I didn't even fall out.


'How often do we miss out on great opportunities in life, all because we were afraid and could only think the worst!?!'  I nearly did.   I encourage you to take those opportunites that may seem impossible and step out of your box into what could actually be possible.

By the way, I am the one on the left.