Don’t get your toes wet – dive in.

There is no doubt that I love Crossfit.

I love the feeling of my hands gripped around a barbell or wrapped around a pull-up rig or rings. I love flipping upside down into a handstand, springing onto a 30″ plyo-box, and have a love/hate relationship when my hands are grasped around that leather-bound wall-ball. I love the feeling of deadlifting much more than I weight or throwing more than 100# overhead.

Despite being extremely uncomfortable at times, Crossfit makes me comfortable with the uncomfortable.

Last year, I channeled my Crossfit mindset to train for a half-marathon, the scariest things I had ever done to date. When I registered for the race, I could hardly run a mile without stopping, so the thought of training for, and finishing, such a race seemed impossible. It was painful, physically, mentally, and emotionally, but I persevered (and vowed to complete it again this year in order to have a second chance at a more positive training experience.). Through literal sweat and tears, I do not regret a thing about undertaking what seemed like an impossible task.

How often do we all step outside of our comfort zone?

How often do you do that thing that scares the daylights out of you?

There is a great quote by Robert Schueller, “What great thing would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?”

While it may seem trivial to some, I signed up for my first swimming lesson this week. Yup, nearly 32 years old and I have a fear of any depth of water above my head and quite anxiety about anything above my neck being submerged.

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To give a little bit of history of the apprehension, I think it stems partially from when I was about 4 years old and my dad used to use us kids as playthings, tossing us up in the air at the pool and catching us right before we would go under. Except one time, my scrawny little body slipped out from his hands and down I went. I was more than fine and probably was only submerged for about two seconds, but it was enough to put the irrational fear in me for years later. To be honest, there were few things that didn’t scare me as a child, many of which still present in some way today.

Fast-forward to high school, where taking a Pool class was a requirement to graduate. Yet somehow, a scheduling conflict with the opportunity to take an Advanced Placement English class paired with a doctor’s note for a mysterious “chlorine allergy” trumped the requisite.

A few years ago, some friends and I were on a boat (another anxiety-inducing activity) and they took it out to some middle-of-nowhere place and dropped the anchor, after which everyone proceeded to dive in and tread water. I opted to remain seated on the boat, knowing well there was no way I was going to put my life at risk jumping into who-knows-how-deep water.

About two years ago, I conquered a major fear of the boat, and took a more venturous risk and went parasailing. A surreal feeling unlike anything I can describe, equally terrifying and liberating, I felt an anxiety release.

Do you know how freeing it is to no longer fear something that once seemed so terrifying?

Last year, I did Warrior Dash, and though hesitant, scaled the tall obstacles and jumped over fire and climbed under and through things that caused some mild claustrophobic panic. But once I waded through the 5ft of water at one obstacle onto the dock in the middle, the lifeguards on the other side were relaying that the depth of the water to get to the shoreline no more than 20 feet away was 10ft deep. The adolescent guard must have sensed my panic as he told me I can hold onto the rope to get me across to the other side.

So with a Tough Mudder scheduled for August, a longer distance than any race I have ever run, with more extreme and dangerous obstacles than I ever have faced, I need to approach the water obstacles as I approached my half marathon, much less thinking and more doing.

(To put into perspective how ill-prepared I am for this race, I failed at doing a recent “Coldwater challenge“, in which you need to submerge yourself underwater if publicly called out. I tried. And my body and lungs said no.)

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So, after 31 years of not being able to do anything more than a doggie paddle to save my life, I am starting with a swimming lesson.

I think everyone should do something similar. Do something that you haven’t done before or something that you have been scared to try. This isn’t about swimming; this is about pushing yourself well outside of your comfort zone and doing something that is going to make you a better version of you. How much more can you grow if you put your fears aside and strive for so much more, taking a risk for what you want?

Put on a swimsuit and put your toes in the water.

Step outside your comfort zone.

Attend your first Crossfit class.

Take a rest day. And let your body rest.

Ask the girl out.

End the dead-end relationship.

Sign up for the competition.

Break from the routine.

Start that new business.

Take a trip to somewhere new.

Listen to your gut, not someone else’s.

Eat something that it outside your “diet.”

Enroll for the next semester.

Register for the long-distance race.

Apply for the new job you may not feel qualified for.

Pursue your passion.

Take a leap of faith.

Dive in head first.