and what was it?

I used to try and make myself step outside my comfort zone a lot because i thought it was important to do. Was watching something earlier about fear and realized its been a long time since I've done anything like that. I think in big part its because I've gotten older and lots of stuff that used to be scary no longer is, so its harder to venture outside of that zone because it takes more work. I mean in the past, something like asking a girl out, or getting in front of a group of people and talking, were terrifying. Those situations arent that hard to find opportunities to do. Those kind of things dont cause the sweats like they used to, lots of things are like that now. So its pretty easy just to get along in life without having to sack up for anything.

So when I realized this, I really was stumped, the last time I can remember making myself do something I didnt want to do cuz of fear was maybe 5 months ago when I forced myself to get on the ride at 6 flags that takes you up like 40 stories and drops you (Im scared of heights).

made me interested in how other people looked at this situation and what scary things if any they were forcing themselves to do.

Last august I went snorkeling. Doesn't sound like a big deal but I'm terrified of drowning, sharks, and kelp, so it was a nightmare scenario for me.

Ended up being really fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I had an MRI last month and I'm terrified of closed spaces. It was quite freaky.

anything to do with heights. most recently on a ladder cutting palms. i cant go up very high, so im maybe 6-7' up my ladder that goes 12' in an A and feel like i'm 20' off the ground and then i've got 14' of pole saw i'm getting stuck in every swipe.

fun stuff.

Yesterday, working near the edge of a roof I did the power change over on the live unfused feeders from the utility.

Moved across the country to see what it's like to live on the west coast.

Also, a bit later, said "I do"

A few months ago, I soldered new high amperage connectors (before the fuses) onto some big ass lithium power cells. The margin of error was about a mm.

I was sweating.

went out past 10pm

One of the Texas Chainsaw Massacres (in IMAX) came out when I was 15-16 and that night was probably the worst night of my life. Had to keep lights on in my room and took forever to fall asleep; the movie made me really afraid of the dark (more specifically, someone being in the same room as me when it was pitch black). Didn't take me long to realize how pathetic it was and I sorta just forced myself to walk around in the dark more at night so I could get over it; figured that was the only way. I'm glad I sacked up and did that sooner than later. Don't even think about that kind of thing when I'm walking in the dark anymore.

Then of course last night I watched Devil's Due (POV Horror), had to go to the bathroom after (across the hall) and thought the Spawn of Satan was gonna eat my head on my way there.

So to answer your question, last night.

i started taking improv classes a month ago. i still get some stage frights here and there, especially when we play a new game, but nothing like before. i'm pretty comfortable just letting myself go and just saying what's on my brain at the moment now.

Probably longboarding down a mountain. We have a pretty nasty 3~ mile road down from the top of one of the ski resorts that's pretty scary. I've done it a bunch of times but it always makes my hands sweat and heart race a bit. I mean even though even probably done it like 25+ times down this hill I still get nervous which is probably good. Whenever you don't respect the speed or the slopes skiing and it can be a huge injury. Getting hit by potential cars is scary too (not many go up there).

Pretty much this is what we do except that this kid is a lot better. It's basically one road over for where we do it but same idea. It doesn't really show how fast he's going on video which is unfortunate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFOt0rGboq0

I don't want to cast it in a bad light, but getting married was definitely a pretty big leap out of my comfort zone.

On a more practical level, I once did an NFL-format impromptu speech in front of a high school assembly. The instructor offered to give me the three topics ahead of time but I declined, figuring that would be cheating (some combo of naïveté and hubris I suppose)

I think I'm all done with the scary stuff.

not often enough

Kelp?

Last week I went up to a girl and talked to her. I was sober.

You get tangled up in that **** it's all over.

Plus it's all green and slimy.

You are an inspiration to us all

i remember managing some program in college and was asked to do MC the party at the end of the year. before that, they did some celebration and i had to go on stage and say some thank you speech bs , i went up there said like 4 words and went completely blank till someone took the mic from me .
got pretty embarassed by it, so told professor I didnt wanna MC the final party anymore,
he gave me some encouragement
for the next 3 weeks I kept practicing n practicing and wound up mc ing the party
did a good job too i think
public speaking aint easy bras

you should try this next

just about a year ago i left a stable government job. scary but havent regretted a minute since.

im the same way, and went swimming with sharks a few years ago. in some ways it wasnt as scary as it sounds, but there was just 1 rope tied to a boat and a local swimming around the sharks "keeping them far enough away from us", so it was pretty terrifying. amazing experience and so glad i did it.

Watched this video:

Somewhat relevant

http://raouldify.files.wordpress.com...the-flinch.pdf

That's awesome man. That's actually next on my list, i know a guy that shark dives pretty regularly.