What the most severe fear you've faced down and overcome?

I had a profound fear of snakes when I was attacted by a rattler. 3 foot long, and scary as I could imagine (he was at head height.)
Once the snake was dead, I found no more fear of them.

Living

public speaking

I just went up and talked. just gotta do it, and redo it

Swimming in the open ocean. Since I was a kid I’ve had some weirdness where my body will seize up in water and I’ll sink like a stone. Could be a pool, a pond, a river, lake whatever and the depth of water doesn’t matter. In the mid 90’s I decided to take up longboard surfing off the Marin CA coastline, an area referred to as “The Red Triangle” due to the proliferation of sharks attracted by protected seals and birds who season on islands nearby. I made myself go out into black freezing water about ¼ off shore where I knew I’d not only be waiting up to a half hour at a time for a good wave to come but while waiting there could be any kind of thing in the water with me. Young sharks are curious and bump/nip surfers every year there. No one has died but a young white shark’s exploration bite is serious business. Somehow I overcame my fear of the beasts and maybe my concentration on that kept my body from seizing but I’ve not had an episode in water since then.

Probably the two most fearful things that I’ve overcome and now do regularly without any fear whatsoever is public speaking and skiing.

A knife fight where both of us knew that only one of us was going to survive the encounter.

@captainharley You survived, right? You’re… not a… ghost… are you?

Being homeless & without resources for a period of several months. Once I’d been there, it became the benchmark for everything other bad thing in my life. I survived that & put my life in order, I could pretty much survive anything else that came along.

@netgrrl Wow!

The scariest thing I have ever had to encounter is my son. When I first held him in my arms I thought he looked pretty easy to handle. But a few weeks in, sleep deprived and up to my elbows in poopy cotton diapers, I started to dawn on me that he was ours forever and ever. The worry; the guilt; the thoughts that I might not be able to give him all he wants in life, were never going to go away. A terrific and awesome shock.

Everyday as a parent I face that fear and fight it down, so I can get on with it and see to the poop, or whatever else.

@jeanmay Someone said once that having children meant we got to walk the earth with our hearts outside our chests for the rest of our lives, and that’s certainly true.

I have a fear of heights, though it’s not so much about being high up as it is a serious fear of falling. So you generally won’t see me near the edge of a rooftop, on a ladder, bungee jumping, that sort of thing. One summer when I was in high school, I did the cable ascent to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite, albeit with quite a bit of help from my teachers, who spotted me above and below so that all I had to do is look at the rock straight ahead of me and climb. God bless them for seeing how much I wanted to do it and allowing me the chance!

The hike alone is brutal, but that final ascent to get to the top is nuuuuuuts! That, to me, is still the greatest achievement in my life to date. Look at that!!! I can’t believe I did that! My heart started racing as soon as I looked at the picture I linked above, in memory of how terrifying it was.

Difficulty: Extreme. It’s long, steep at the beginning and end, and more dangerous than most Yosemite hikes. It’s probably the most difficult of all Yosemite day hikes. On the traditional 1 to 10 scale, this one rates an 11.

Insanity Factor: 9 out of 10. Wait ‘til you get to the cables, and you’ll see what we mean.
(via)

@MissAnthrope Holy moose!

childbirth -> buffet of meds

I used to be afraid of just about everything… literally. I overcame my fears by convincing myself that I am in charge of my own thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and through sheer force of will and discipline, I conquered my fears. I’m almost 100% baggage free now.

When I was in high school, I was in ROTC, and we had to do a ropes course. I was afraid of heights, and I wasn’t going to recieve credit for the activity if I didn’t participate. So I finally gave in and tried. The activity was repelling. I was crying, but I forced myself to do it, and I made it down the 90 ft. wall, alive. :)

The fear of death. All that I care about is on the “other side” now, wherever that is. I’d just like to make a respectable exit.

Getting married. It’s difficult when you’re 19 and you have a baby on the way.

I had a man walk into my house while I was taking a shower.Fear turned to anger very quickly.

@lucillelucillelucille That’s really terrible. I would freak out if that ever happened to me.

It did happen to a 11 year old boy a few blocks down from my house. A 35 year old man walked into the boys home, just around noon. He was caught and is in jail.

Since then, my door is always locked. And I OCD check it like 30 times a day!

Loseing my father to cancer.

My fear of spiders.

I’m a pyro, a masochist, an adrenaline junkie, & I have no fear of death. Then why am I afraid of spiders? I have no clue. I still get jittery when I see one, but I just kill it like any other bug.

Now the carbon monoxide that killed my mother, that’s a different story….

@OneMoreMinute -Yes,keep your door locked! Mine wasn’t.This happened during the day.I had two German Shepherds (safely in the yard) and my gun was put away out of reach—rolls eyes—

@lucillelucillelucille wow, in the daytime? it’s awful.
my doors locked.

@Draconess25 sorry bout your mother.

@slick44 sorry about your father.

I wish we could know the truth about the after life. not some made up crap to keep us good.

@OneMoreMinute Thanks. She died exactly a month before my 2nd b-day, so I don’t remember her at all. Her older sister adopted me, & that’s the only Mommy I know!

@OneMoreMinute… Thank you so much for your kind words, it means alot to me. you have even brought a tear to my eye.

@Draconess25 @slick44 (((((((((hugs))))))))
Only two years old? that’s tragedy, I’m so sorry. What a loving woman, your auntie mom!
both my parent have transitioned too. my mom to cancer 7 years ago, my dad to anurism a year ago. my sympathies to both of you…....
Since my mom left, I have studied nutrition and organic. since my dad passed I have wanted to know the real truth of what happens there. but I have not got the answers yet.
I have many opinions, but not the final answer.
I wish you both peace

@OneMoreMinute… Thank you, i dont no you but your words have touched me in a big way. And i wish only the best to you my friend.

@slick44 you are welcome and thank you very much for that too!

@OneMoreMinute Thank you. I’m sure your parents would be very happy knowing how kind you are!