Do You Do What Scares You?

It has been my previous life experience to avoid anything and everything that scares me.
I have also gone so far as to take extreme measure to be sure what I was fearful of, could not happen, and if someone messed with my self mandated protocols for self protection, I would have a little( or maybe big) freak out!

Does this sound like you?

Do you take precautionary measure to avoid scary situations?
Do you freak out if those measures are tampered  with or not respected, especially by those you love?

I am not to the point, yet, that all my fears are gone. However I am actively moving from my comfort zone into the growth zone on a fairly regular basis.

My most recent experience was experiencing an adventure park in the trees. The place is called On Tree.
This particular adventure park has a series of courses ranging in difficulty levels. The teams are very knowledgeable and skilled. They train you before sending you out on the course. Do not underestimate this preparation.

Being very , do things in order, kind of person, I missed some important instructions at the beginning and as a result was required to end my day a little earlier than planned.

So let me give you a little back story, to why I even decided this was an adventure I desired to take on. Pre-c-vid(yes we are to the point we use code because of censorship), my sister and her family went to this "On Tree" park and had an amazing time, oh the fun they had. This sparked a little interest however , not yet enough to commit to the challenge. Now, they planned to go again, and my youngest son recently went with a church youth group, and he had an awesome time. I had now decided. I choose to do this!

The day my sister was going, seemed to be out for me, as we had scheduled some excavation work to be done, on what I thought, was the same day! However, it turns out it was two days later. I now had my opportunity to go.  

I started my day with my usual morning routine with Heaven Journaling, Oils scan, application and decrees. My decrees were suited for my day, for bravery, trust and confidence.

I mentioned to my sister "Hey, I can go!"

Her response was not what I hoped. She basically said I would not enjoy because I was scared of spiders. Mom chimed in that so was she.

I was still not included, so as she prepared to leave for the day. I continued to  get ready for mine. As I bathed I decided, I WAS GOING! I would go alone. I can do this! 

I went to tell hubby I was going and he was welcome to come with me, if he chose to. I was also unsure if he would enjoy as he has balance issues. However he was all in! He has been climbing trees since he was young and much higher than we would be, and without a harness.

So off we went!

We arrived and the adventure began.

 I was so excited! In the past, the drive alone to something that was scary for me, would have been enough for me to have a full blown fit and turn around...not today!

The entrance is awesome, well organized and has this cute sign to prepare us for our adventure.

and it was true!

After we paid for our admittance, we gathered our gear, yes, they prepare us well for our adventure, we get proper gear, and training. Yay!

Troy was so excited he was trying to "gear up" before they helped us.


up Next is training...hubby was the first to volunteer, I had planned to cause I am a hands on learner. Hubby was super fast and beat me to it. He was demonstrating how to use the carabiners. How one is open and one is locked at all times, and how to hold them on our body or attach to our harness as we move through the course.

I did get to be the second volunteer however I missed getting a picture as I was being the demo. I was demonstrating how to place our carabiners on the cables, and how to remove them from the cables. It is a great double safety system, only one carabiner is able to be opened at any given time. I also demonstrated how to attach the zip line attachment for zip lining( the best part!!!).

Then the group all took turns attaching to the cable and moving across our first training obstacle...a log beam.

Then we do our first zip training, I volunteered again because I knew I could do the small one and that doing so would give me a good start on believing I can do a more challenging one later on. You can see a video of our adventure on my Youtube channel here.

The trainer then moved to the map of the available course and explained how to read the map.

There are three levels of difficulty.

Easy=GREEN

Medium=BLUE

Difficult=BLACK

The courses are not in order. A key point I wish I had listened to better.

 We then began the courses, Hubby and I went right for course 1. I have always been a being of order. I enjoy doing things in order. This was not a time to do things in order. Course was rated as an easy course thankfully. In hindsight, i would have loved to have a little card with a brief overview of each course, # of obstacles, # of zips and level of difficulty to check off as we progressed. I have e-mailed them in hopes that a little card will be a future upgrade, or even a small paper map.
 
 Course 1(Easy course)
 
 A family went ahead of us. We easily moved through the course. The only part that was challenging was just before the zip. Two cables spanned between the platforms, with a few random board section to walk across. The board sections were just too far to easily step directly to so stepping on the cables was required. The family ahead of us was having an issue here. The mom had definitely gone outside her comfort zone and her fear was up. The husband was coaching his wife, she was ¾ of the way across. I began coaching her as well and cheering her on. A coach always makes a difference when moving past a challenge. This was confirmed today. Her courage was not yet claimed so before doing the zip, she was crying. Her husband was still coaching her, telling her he had her back, literally, he was holding the back of her harness and was not letting her go until she was ready. She struggled to trust her harness to hold her. Once she felt her husband had her and she trusted her harness she felt secure to do the zip. We cheered her on in her victory!
 
 I had a little challenge with the cable crossing however watching someone do a course somehow makes doing it yourself seem easier. I used the cables to get to the boarded sections, one step to cable, next to platform and before I knew it I was to the next platform and to the zip.
 For me the zip is my reward, the best part! Woohoo! I completed my first course.

Lesson Understood: A coach always makes the difference when facing  challenge we can’t seem to see the way out of.

Course 2( Medium course-yeah I DID NOT pay attention here)
 
 Hubby and I then moved to course 2. Ummm, why did I not remember that course 2 was a medium course????
 This course quickly felt too much for me. I was at the obstacle where I had to walk across wooden swings, you know the kind a child would have in the branch of a tree. Yeah well at the start I immediately felt too short. Barely able to hold the cable and touch with tip toes, I wondered how I would be able to do this one. Do you hear my second mistake? I was already questioning the obstacle. My mind was not in the game of “ I got This!”. Half way through, my fear came up and I was no longer rational. I started to yell for help. The team said they were coming. I felt scared that I would fall, I even  forgot I had on a harness for my safety. Then someone from another part of the course started coaching me( whoever you are Thank you!), and hubby tried to come get me to save me(ummm not okay-only one person on an obstacle at a time)I was able with the coaching to get to the next platform. I was so grateful, I basically hugged the tree, I cried, I breathed deep breathes of relief. In my mind I asked was I done already? I answered No!

Lesson Understood: Self talk matters, when I said I could , I did, when I said I couldn’t , I struggled
 
 Lesson understood: Even a coach requires a coach. When I had a coach helping me, I was able to move past my obstacle.

 I looked at the next obstacle and thought I got this! So onto the next obstacle, which just happened to be a giant rope spider web, and I moved across with ease.

Now the next obstacle didn’t look too bad...however once my feet were on the beam, I knew I had made a bad decision. I had panic now up, I was asking myself out loud, “what was I THINKING?”,” Why did I choose to do this?”, and “How do I get myself down?” I kept going even though the beam was unstable, rocking side to side, and swinging left and right and forward and back. Definitely, not a sure foundation.
 One beam led to a second before the next platform. As I attempted to go from one beam to the next, I lost my balance and fell.....I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO GRATEFUL FOR MY HARNESS!

I immediately yelled “HEEEELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPP” as loud as I could. My husband is loving the course, he moves through with ease. He kept reminding me how he has climbed even higher trees and even fell from higher trees...lol , Maybe not the best time to tell me these things, hun.

The OnTree staff arrives and I am hanging on to my harness and closing my eyes and breathing, a young lady comes to me and sits beside me and talks calmly to me. She asks if I am going to continue or if I desire to get down. I am ready to get down so she continues to talk to me and helps me stay calm , she lets me know I can relax in the harness, I am secure, however I feel more secure holding on. Another staff person is on the ground. They secure the gear to lower me to the ground. I am gently lowered to the ground. I feel so relieved to be back on the ground, my arms and legs feel weak and I have some vertigo happening so I choose to stay on the ground for just a few moments. I asked both of them their name’s, however I cannot remember them now. Whoever you are I thank you both so much!!!!
 
 Lesson understood: I am always safe and secure

I finally get up and watch my hubby easily continues through the course. The end of course two has two zips. I was so close to reaching them. I am realizing how much fun my hubby is having. I am so excited for him to be enjoying our experience.
 
 This picture shows my downfall, I definitely moved out of my comfort zone and into the growth zone. The swings were where I reached the end of my comfort zone, everything I did past that was growth zone –woohoo!
 

Hubby and I went to see where to go next and in doing so, this is where I realized I went from an easy course to a medium course. I then asked a staff member, if there were any course that had less obstacles and more zips. She told me that number 15, their newest course was exactly that! Just a few obstacle, and not super wobbly ones, and then a number of zip, one being their longest to date. I hope my arms would regain some strength so I could do the course, however they still remained weak feeling like jello. Hubby however was ready for another course so off he went for course 15.
 
 He did so awesome, he completed three full courses and was ready to take on a difficult one. We had an hour left. I told him he would have to do without me as I was done for the day. He then decided he was too.

I could look at my day as a failure. However, I choose to see all I did accomplish. I choose to see all the lessons I was taught. I had an awesome day and I look forward to returning again to experience more growth.
As a Faith Based Intuitive Mentor, I understand even more, how important a mentor, a coach, a guide is in achieving a goal, in moving past, block, and wall, and obstacles.

What has been your most recent growth zone experience?

And what lessons did you come to understand?