Ngahi Bidois: Challenging your fears shows courage

Have people in your life that will encourage you to do something new and challenging. Photo / File

Wow what a great summer this has been. The excellent weather is still hanging around and you won't hear any complaints from this corner.

The warmth has opened up loads of opportunities to do things such as try new swimming spots and the best one I can lay claim to was stopping halfway around Lake Taupo on my way back from this year's NZ Superstock teams champs in Palmy and jumping (not diving yet) off the place known as jumping rock.

It didn't look that high from the road, but standing on the edge of the rock looking down at the crystal clear water was another story.

It seemed to take me ages to get up the courage to jump and I only did so after my brother Morgan dived off. My thought pattern being, well if he can dive off this rock then surely I can get up the courage to jump!

My blatant fear of heights never left me as I stood there petrified but, as they say, courage is not overcoming fear - but feeling that fear and doing it anyway.

That's the thing about courage isn't it? Some things look a lot easier to accomplish from a distance, but when we are at the edge of the opportunity it can be a completely different story. I watched countless younger people dive and jump and do somersaults before I even stepped up to give it a shot.

It was also the encouragement of my brother who had saved me a parking space so we could stop there that motivated me to jump. I remember thinking, "How could I not do this when I tried to stop at this spot last year, but there were no parking spaces so he saved me one this year."

Watching my brother Morgan dive first was inspirational.

That's another thing about courage. We often need a mentor, encourager and opportunity maker don't we. Someone who says, "Bro, if I can do it so can you. You never know until you give it a go!"

The weather was perfect. The opportunity was created by my brother who saved me a parking space and then led by example by doing something more difficult than he was suggesting I do.

The fear was there but I could not see any rational reason for not taking the opportunity so I took it - twice. The second jump only slightly less fearful than the first. Perhaps I will dive next time.

I hope this summer created various opportunities for you to do something new and challenging. It's often a bro you know who will encourage you to give it a go. So I hope you have those people in your life too. I've spent most of my life making sure I do and I can tell you this: The fear is still there, but so is the courage. Kia maia.

- Ngahihi o te ra is from Te Arawa and is an international speaker, author and consultant. His book is available at Mcleods book store and the Lakeside cafe in Rotorua. His website can be viewed at www.ngahibidois.com.