Being aware that I was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and that I was in the hands of professional guides who were putting time into my safety, played a big part in this because I knew that they wanted us to reach the end of that wall, which is why they made sure it was safe. Throughout the course of life every one will encounter many opportunities. Imagine: you are given the chance to present a project (that you are very passionate about) to a very powerful company, have the resources and contacts to make the presentation as professional as possible, but have no idea how to present. The passion you have towards the project can drive you to take advantage of these resources and try your best to face this "fear" of presenting. The previous example was my case, in which we have used all of our resources to know Kantaya as much as we can and present as effectively as possible, but it can relate to almost anything. All it takes is passion and resources to face fears. |
As the ice crashed against my skin and my body tried to forget the 4500mts and climb, both hands were beginning to feel like they were losing grip from the ice axes, and then I remembered that they were attached to my wrist. Every hit and carve into the fossil ice was followed by short and strong kicks that were allowing my body to continue moving completely vertically towards the top of the ice wall. "Don't look down", I would tell myself, because the fear of heights had overcome my mind the moment I stepped onto that wall. I felt exhausted, sick, and ready to come back down regardless of the 4 meters left; it was a call for motivation, and there was only one solution for that. As I looked down, my eyes gleamed at the group's faces and encouragement and I proudly managed to climb those remaining 4 meters in less than five seconds. It was only coming back down when I realized that when looking below, my focus had been on the group's encouragement, rather than the fact that I was standing 16 meters above my classmates. The main fear I had in my project was definitely presenting to the companies, because though we have elaborated long presentations in front of our class before (POL's), the corporate audience is an entirely different one in which a more professional profile is required. Luckily, we identified this fear early throughout the process, so as a group we managed to take advantage of the resources we had in front of us and began to prepare our delivery effectively with a goal of these companies to give their financial support for Kantaya in a sustainable manner. These children have the right to know what it's like to feel passion for learning, which comes hand-in-hand with the resources so, let's be the reason behind 300 smiles and give them these resources. Speaking my opinion in discussions and participating had always been my worst fear since I was little, but unlike now, I didn't possess neither the passion or the resources--which are the fact that I am now part of a community built upon trust--and this been slowly changing. Beginning my participation in class inside a community of trust was a resourceful way of stepping outside my comfort zone, and this leap forward eventually allowed me to participate daily in my other classes as well. I became passionate about overcoming my fear, I started facing it with adequate resources, and now have managed to overcome it entirely, no longer fearing participation. When given the resources/safety, if one truly possesses the passion, then they can, and most possibly WILL reach the end of their "wall" successfully.
1 Comment
Sebastian chirinos
5/7/2015 11:23:43 am
Camila, in this blog I really liked the fact that you started with the suspense of the moment you were in, which caught my attention automatically. I like the part where you say that sometimes, taking those challenges is stepping out of your comfort zone. Once you step out, it all becomes easier and most likely, you will at some point enjoy those fears, such as being high up when climbing. I could really connect with these blog post if I go back to when I was skiing. As I got to higher mountains, the fear increased, but once I overcame that comfort zone of just going for the blues/blacks, I felt that I kept on growing. And no longer was there the fear of going into higher mointains. Really cool blog post!
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