Fear is an important part of our construction as living beings. We need fear to tell us when to behave differently for our survival. Slackline requires us to rewire parts of our brain. This rewiring often includes a redefinition of fear. The fear may be anything from the fear of embarrassing yourself in front of your peers to a legitimate fear of death. How deeply you are participating in slackline and in what capacity largely determines the kind of fear you will be facing. But have no doubt that you will face fear on a slackline.
I have developed a method for overcoming fear through practice. It's a four step process that may take you years: Feel, Test, Control and Conquer.
You will know that you need to start the process of overcoming a fear because you are inexplicably drawn to the situation that elicits it and the fear itself is slowing down your progress. For example you walk up to the edge of that tall building and look at the highline despite the discomfort, but you keep backing off and can't step on. It's time to start managing your fear.
I have developed a method for overcoming fear through practice. It's a four step process that may take you years: Feel, Test, Control and Conquer.
You will know that you need to start the process of overcoming a fear because you are inexplicably drawn to the situation that elicits it and the fear itself is slowing down your progress. For example you walk up to the edge of that tall building and look at the highline despite the discomfort, but you keep backing off and can't step on. It's time to start managing your fear.
FEEL
Feeling fear is a good thing. Put yourself into the scary situation. Feel the fear, but listen to your body and back off when you feel you need to. Repetition is the key. When you are finished recognize that you are still alive, you are still breathing, and take special note of how the fear affected you in a physical way.
Each time you'll come away feeling a little uncomfortable, but each time you'll feel a little bit more like it really wasn't so bad. This exposure causes you to understand that your reaction to the fear is physical and you have control over how much you want to feel.
Each time you'll come away feeling a little uncomfortable, but each time you'll feel a little bit more like it really wasn't so bad. This exposure causes you to understand that your reaction to the fear is physical and you have control over how much you want to feel.
TEST
The testing step is the simplest, but takes the longest. Build your abilities and test them to get closer to the source of your fear. Create skill that allows you to come closer and closer to the source of your fear. As you're practicing you'll get a little closer to the edge and work through feeling the fear again. It will be stronger now because the source is real and still affects you physically. Continue to build your skill become more sure of yourself and test your abilities.
CONTROL
Eventually you'll understand your physical limits. You'll have a skill that brings you close to the source of your fear but keeps you safe. Instead of being in danger when you're close to your source of fear, you're in control.
In this step you will stand face to face with your fear for an hour one day, three hours the next; feeling the fear, but working on controlling your physical response to it. The feeling of fear will still affect you physically the same way it did in the beginning, but you are now able to practice reducing this reaction.
Some people will never move past this stage and that's perfectly normal. Controlling your physical response to fear is all that is necessary to be successful. If you end up here, redefine the meaning of success for you. There are some fears that we can't eliminate, they're too deeply engrained in our psyche.
In this step you will stand face to face with your fear for an hour one day, three hours the next; feeling the fear, but working on controlling your physical response to it. The feeling of fear will still affect you physically the same way it did in the beginning, but you are now able to practice reducing this reaction.
Some people will never move past this stage and that's perfectly normal. Controlling your physical response to fear is all that is necessary to be successful. If you end up here, redefine the meaning of success for you. There are some fears that we can't eliminate, they're too deeply engrained in our psyche.
CONQUER
One day you'll wake up and realize that you have felt the fear enough and it's no longer necessary to your survial. You can predict and eliminate your physical reaction. You are confident in your abilities and have tested them thoroughly. This is the point where the fear vanishes and you are awesome for having conquered it.
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