PADI: Facing a Lifelong Fear of Diving

This week I faced a lifelong fear and went scuba diving with PADI in Bermuda while at the Family Travel Association summit.

It was more challenging than running with the bulls (yes, seriously, I’m fleet of foot and I grew up around cattle – that test was built for me).

I was basically the last one in the boat during the shallow training on the basics. I couldn’t mouth-breathe without thinking about every inhale, so I was underoxygenated and panicked a lot. The instructor was effortlessly reassuring. After several misfires, he let me know I could back out and nobody would be bothered. He even told me he’d backed out before during a dive and it was often wise to trust your gut on these things. This is wisdom, I thought.

So I stood up out of the water and I looked around and had this moment: I’m in Bermuda, traveling the world for AirTreks, why do the hard thing when I could just be on the beach with a drink in hand? And then I realized that the fear and discomfort were minor things in a major moment. We have this saying in our house, “a small thing to a giant.” Courage is often about realizing inner strength, and we’re literally made of stellar material, so I like to think within me is a starload of cosmic force just waiting to become kinetic energy.

I decided this was about my mind, not about the activity or the breathing or the equipment. Who is in control of my mind if not me?

Read the whole story here

Dale Vaughn
Dale Thomas Vaughn – a champion of purpose, has worked with some of the most influential people in the world including billionaire industry moguls, academic thought-leaders and international heads of state. He has written and edited seven best-selling books, run with the bulls in Pamplona, trekked the 500-mile pilgrimage that is the Camino de Santiago, become a certified specialist of wine, and both succeeded and failed in the world of business. Today, through his award-winning work with The EmpowerMentorship Institute, Dale helps men discover what they want from their lives and then empowers them to make a concrete plan to go do it. As seen on CNN, CBS, Huffington Post Live, TEDx, the Art of Charm, the Man School Podcast and in the LA Weekly, Dale’s work has received multiple Best of LA awards, Telly awards, and the M Award for service and leadership from his alma mater SMU. Dale is an undisputed expert on how to plug the power of your purpose into the heart of your business. If you are tired of feeling trapped in the stifling corporate “real world,” and you are an action taker ready to find fulfillment in your career or business, Dale’s program is your chance to transform that forever. Dale lives in Los Angeles with his partner Elizabeth Menzel, founder of the Happy Woman Academy.
dalethomasvaughn.com
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