If you keep up with my blog, you know I share my perspectives on leisure. My Leisurely Thursday feature is my platform for introducing and discussing concepts related to leisure education as well as to illuminate why leisure is a basic need in our lives.
Today’s focus is on self-inflicted barriers that prevent us from participating in our leisure past-times.
“Do one thing every day that scares you.” Eleanor Roosevelt
Are you a person who inadvertently creates obstacles that prevent you from enjoying your leisure time? Actually, we all do to some degree. The good news is, we have the ability to overcome the fear, the barriers, and the obstacles that potentially rob us of our joy.
Using myself as an example, many of you know that I am a windsurfer. I am not a confident windsurfer. I began this very late in life (age 49) and this is an extremely difficult sport/hobby to learn. I have been athletic my entire life and learning most sports came easily to me. Not this one.
Although I have sailed at the delta these past six seasons, I am still anxious about going out. Wind conditions change daily and the water can be fickle due to high or low tides.
Never mind sailing in a daunting ocean environment.
Fear. It hits me.
Every. Single. Time.
Self-doubt about our abilities in leisure is common. What is it that we fear? Injury? Humiliation? Failure? All of the above?
Without going into details of getting my windsurf gear past the shore break, I had some difficulty the day before. I convinced myself that I was NOT EVER going to windsurf again.
Lured by another gorgeous day of sun and perfect wind the next day, I really wanted to prove to myself that I could do this. It is hard to tell in the picture, but those waves were cresting at 5 feet high.
I was terrified.
My hubby captured this moment in the photo above.
Within a few feet of shore, the water was over my head and I could not touch the bottom. Once I got the board and sail organized, I had to push it out past the cresting waves and sail from a water start position. I still had a little trouble, but I got up and sailed into the surf. Gawd, it was fun!
These are the times in our leisure moments that getting past that barrier of self-doubt begins the process of success.
I still experience fear and anxiety about sailing and probably always will. The fear of looking stupid is as strong as the fear of failing so miserably that I must perform the walk of shame or crawl unceremoniously out of the water onto the rocks.
But…it sure does feel fantastic when I experience a grand sailing session.
My friend, Jessica Edouard, on her blog, Send Sunshine posted this recently.
Hysterical Blindness
“Inside our hearts, we have the ability to overcome the obstacles created within our mind”
Coincidentally, she not only articulated some thoughts related to my post, she used one of the photos I had sent her of sunflowers. She does brilliant work with her photos and shares an inspirational post every DAY!! Please check out her blog!
I challenge you to “do one thing every day that scares you.”
Pushing past that barrier is very esteeming to us and we need these successful moments in our leisure time regardless of the complexity of the activity.
What will you do to push past your fear of participating in a new leisure activity?
I hope you enjoyed this small excerpt from the e-book I am writing.
Second Wind Leisure Perspectives 
What is YOUR perspective? Please include your name if WP identifies you as “anonymous.