Leap of Faith at Atlantis
Everyone clapped and cheered as a boy went down the Leap of Faith at Atlantis Water Park. He was part of a group of young boys and girls conquering their fears.
The Leap of Faith is a nine story’s high, near-vertical slide, resulting in free-fall experience at Atlantis Water Park. Thousands of people each week challenge themselves to see if they can do it.
One boy who struggled had taken the plunge after much hesitation, and everyone celebrated. But another boy didn’t have it in him.
David’s turn
The other boy – let’s call him David – was about ten-years-old. David approached the slide, and his friends encouraged him. He hesitated, so the crowd joined in and cheered him on. David walked over, looked down, and ran away. His friends tried to convince him, but he wasn’t going down the slide.
Despite everyone’s best efforts to encourage him, David couldn’t do it. The line had backed up, so the lifeguards let others go.
David stood in the corner, with a red face, and tears rolled down his cheeks.
Occasionally he would walk towards the slide, and the cheering would commence, but then he would withdraw to the corner.
I hoped to get a front-row view to David’s triumph once we got to the front of the line. But he didn’t go. So it was our turn.
It wasn’t my first time down the slide, so I pretended to be fearless, walked up, jumped in, and pushed off hard down the slide.
I must have pushed off lopsided as I swayed left and right on my decent. My thoughts were of me falling off the edge, even though that was impossible. But I survived, and the thrill made me want to go again. So back up we went.
Back up again.
We climbed the stairs to the top, and David was still there. Everyone continued to encourage him when he tried, but he couldn’t do it.
He would watch a few people, then walk up to the slide, but always backed out. The crowd provided verbal encouragement, but the cheers had stopped after so many failed attempts.
David attempted again for maybe the twentieth time and this time triumphed. The crowd erupted, they cheered and chanted: The boy did it, the boy did it.
It took him nearly an hour, but David had done it. He had conquered his fear.
Why?
So why do we think we can’t do something? Our fears prevent us from experiencing life. The slide is safe but designed to prey on our fears, and it brought David to tears as he tried to do it.
After showing his exceptional courage, he may have still hated it, and never want to do it again. Or he may have loved it, and want to go again. Or he may want to attempt even scarier slides. But by doing more than he thought possible, he can do even more.
And he isn’t alone, we are all fighting these battles.
My false thoughts.
I’m chasing my running goals, and whenever I run, I have an inner battle going on between my false thoughts and challenging thoughts:
False: “I can’t run faster or further.”
Challenging: “I can, and I will.” So I do.
False: “OK, I was wrong. I’ll note down your new limit.”
Challenging: “I’ll break that new limit next time.”
It’s a tough cycle. And I don’t win every battle. But my running is getting faster and further, so I’m winning the war.
I’ve observed this battle in many areas of my life and noticed three levels to conquer to get ahead.
Three levels.
The three levels are: What we think we can, what we can currently do, and what we could do.
1. Think
Our false beliefs stop us from doing. Nothing prevented David from going down the slide except his thoughts. And if we don’t overcome these beliefs they stick.
For example, if David didn’t go down the slide, he might think he can’t overcome any fears. He might shy away from anything challenging in future, preventing him from learning what he is capable of achieving.
2. Can
What we can do is a lot more than we think. David was always able to go down the slide. But he had to stop thinking he couldn’t and just do it.
For another example, if someone’s life was at stake, we could perform seemingly impossible feats. But we always had it within us.
What changed was our “I can’t” thought into “I have to” or “I will” and once we change our thoughts we realise that we can do it and could do much more.
3. Could
What we could do unlocks our full ever-increasing potential. But it’s tough. We need to:
- First, discard our fears or limiting believes.
- Second, do it.
- Third, accept we can do it.
- Finally, go back to 1 and start again.
Once we make it through and repeat the cycle our capabilities explode. If we conquered one fear or false belief, we could defeat many more, allowing us to live our lives to the fullest potential.
