White water rafting.

Have you ever considered becoming more fearless?  I recently read a blog by Corinne Rodrigues called Kicking the bucket list. I would highly recommend reading it and watching the TED talk she links to. Her post made me think about how I would like to live my life if I knew it was coming to an end.  The first thing that popped into my head was to overcome my fears. And I'd already started last week.

On a beautiful day on a river in Costa Rica I overcame one of my biggest fears. Water. I love being on the water.  Any kind of water. Lake, river, ocean, creek, stream, they all give me a feeling of peace. But water also terrifies me.  I worry about under tow, sharks, jelly fish, currents, storms, waves and rocks.  I'm always afraid of losing control in the water.  So getting on a raft in a foreign country on a fast moving river was frightening.  I didn't tell my husband or our friends about my fear.  I decided it was time to let it go.

The first few runs were easy.  I followed the guide's directions by paddling when he said and getting down when it was rough. Then it got rougher. The first time I fell out of the raft I was confused and scared.  My friend Mike pulled me back in and we laughed about how glad he should be that I'd lost weight. I felt sick to my stomach.  The second time I fell out I landed on a rock.  Ouch.  My husband hauled me back in and gave me a kiss.  The third time I tried to fall out Joe grabbed my legs and held on.  I took a big drink but sat back up.  This time I wasn't scared!  I was ready to go!

 Then we came to this.  A 15 foot drop.

Paddle hard! Get down! Hold on!  Splash!!

And I stayed on the boat!

So I faced one of my fears and overcoming it felt wonderful.  I felt excited when we went back to the hotel and painted this. Calm waters (I tamed them) and beautiful trees without any monkeys (another fear). Don't ask me to take on them next!

Tomorrow maybe I'll tell you about going on the zip line.  Did I mention I have a fear of heights?