Day 1 - Over the Fence

July 30th is the start of this challenge, and throughout the day I felt more excited that afraid. During the day there was just one thing on my mind, figuring out what fear I would face. By the end of lunch I finally settled on what was the first fear I was going to tackle.

With a little bit of background on me, I do Parkour. I fell in love with the sport 2 years ago and have been actively involved in it since. Although I love to train in Parkour day in and day out I have limited myself to the very basics of the sport due to fear. While people are jumping from rooftops and doing flips off of rails, I stay of the ground trying to perfect my long distant jumps. This has caused me to hit  a "Plateau" of my training that I feel can only be surpassed by getting over my intimation of the risks. So for my first fear, I was going to do a maneuver I always felt physically able to do, but not mentally.

I set off in the evening to my local playground to try to perform the move in mind. As I thought more about this move I felt that this fear was more feasible to overcome. To my surprise, I found that the playground I headed off to was completely dismantled for reconstruction.

This little surprise quickly turned my sense of excitement into nervousness. I had mentally prepared myself all day to make that move my first fear. It was now late in the night and I had to think of a new fear I can accomplish in a short amount of time. I looked around the playground and found a fence approximately 7 feet from the ground. The fence inspired a new fear I felt can overcome by the end of the day.

In the start of my Parkour training there was a move I've learned called a gate vault. This move involved you climbing to the top of a fence, placing one hand on top of the fence, using your other hand to grab on to the chain link part of the fence, then throw your legs over. While this happens, gravity pull you down while you grip for dear life onto the fence. Hopefully if you do this right, your legs will hit the ground softly and you'll be over the other side of the fence.
 I only ever attempted this move once. However, rather than gripping onto dear life for the fence, I ended up letting go and took a 4 foot drop, hard, onto the ground. As you can imagine, this deterred me from ever doing the move again.

Before the end of the night, I settled I was going to try to not only attempt the gate vault again, but actually be able to perform it to perfection. So with nerves tensing, I climbed the fence and rested my stomach on the top. I looked at the ground and readied my hands in position. I tried going slowly as possible with my body going horizontally over the fence. I felt myself being carried down and the world going upside down. I hit the ground with my feet and performed the world's shittiest gate vault. I did it none the less. With the adrenaline still kicking in my body I decided to perform the move again with a bit more speed. After several more repeats of this I decided to perform the move without thinking about it, eventually doing a perfect gate vault.

I walked home with my heart still pounding and nerves still tense, but I felt a sense of accomplishment overwhelm me. I had faced my first fear of this challenge, and I had overcame it. I felt that this small victory served as both a reward and a valuable lesson for how I should approach this challenge. I realize that overcoming fear is the hardest part of any challenge. Once you get the idea of fear out of your mind, the rest comes easy.

Start of a Challenge

A little while ago I read an article about a Canadian, female marathon runner who ran North Korea's first marathon. During her interview she said something that struck me as rather inspirational. "My motto is 'to do one thing a day that scares you".

Now for a low confident young male such as myself, thinking of all the things that "scare me" amounted to quite the list. Looking at this list in front of me made me reflect a bit on my life. I am not considered a social person. I am often described as a shy, quiet individual who can be more befittingly titled as a lone wolf than a part of a pack.
Now as I grow older I realize this has became an obstacle in my life. I have long been evading challenges in my life that do not have a safety net. I now feel as I'm stuck in life simply because I'm too afraid to do anything else.

So this is where I thought of an idea. I will challenge myself to face a fear, no matter how big or small, every single day for 365 days.

Now with this challenge comes just one rule:  Every day I need do at least one new fear I that have not overcame before.

This rule will prevent me from not facing my true fears and instead challenge my ability to be brave. I will try my best to document every new fear I attempt for the day and note my thoughts on the challenge.

So with that all said and done, let the challenge begin.