My worst fear

I am aquaphobic. 

Water creeps me out and I often told people that in my last life I died drowning. 

As a child, I was scared of taking a shower (I thought water would enter my brain and lungs and all the body parts and I would blow and burst out; bucket and mug were my buddies)

I was scared of crossing river even through a bridge (I felt that the stagnant water was calling me, looking right in to my eyes. I felt our bike would just jump out of the bridge and I would die drowning)

I was scared of water parks as well (I thought the water in water parks would pull me down and never let me go up. Though not very steep, I felt water would kill me anyway)

I was scared of sea (Being born in coastal Karnataka, staying away from beaches is like a joke. But I knew every single wave wanted to take me along with it somewhere far and deep. So I never stepped my foot). I have literally cried once after being pushed in to the water!!!

I never learnt swimming (the only means to save me from drowning) with the fear of drowning in swimming pool. What a fool!!! 

So yes, because of these fears my dear family and friends made fun of me:

Incident 1: My friend gave me a mug of water and said "Don't be scared Shruthi. Your head is big for the mug, you won't drown" and it was followed by a group laughter like I was the fun subject

Incident 2: They normally took my photographs of I-am-damn-scared face and circulated and projected in class. Humiliating!!!

Incident 3: Cousins have pushed me in sea water and enjoyed my 'skipping a heartbeat' moment

Incident 4: And whenever I cancelled the trip to beaches or islands or waterfalls, everybody gave me that look of "get over your own shit soon or we will smack you". 

I was humiliated, joked about and was constantly the reason for cancellation of plans few years back but in spite of all this, I never tried to get over my fear as I was too scared to even go near it. 

All are looking at me.. trying to make me more nervous.. Dialogues like "shruthi what will you do if the boat sinks" were common

This is my scared face. Nightmare !!!

I always needed some extra support!!! people laughed at me.

During my masters (I was like 22 years old) I decided to face my fear no matter what.

I started keeping my feet in water, sea or river. Slowly soaking my feet was fun. I would go to the beach side and stand for hours looking at sun set. So, that is when I started enjoying water a bit. But initially I would hold somebody's hand and eventually I was on my own. From feet it went till knee length water and yes, by then my fear for water had definitely reduced. 

Slowly I started squatting in sea water, going to water parks and started looking down the bridges (which was the scariest part for me) smiling at the river water. And yes, I started taking shower; it was blissful. I even visited few beach resorts and enjoyed playing in water. 

My first water park fun!!!

Enjoying cold water!!!

River rafting. can't believe it is me!!!

But before stepping in to water I do the following:

1. I ask the coxswain if he would jump in to water to save my life if I accidentally fell

2. I make sure there are enough people on the coast

3. I ride slowly while crossing the bridges

4. I know, it is water and it can be dangerous so I always play safe. I don't take risks while playing with water

With these simple instructions and my repeated attempts I say I have overcome my fear to a great extent. Now I don't mind taking a boat ride or playing in water parks but I know some elements of fear are still left in me and in the years to come I will for sure defeat them and throw them out of my system. 

This post is written as a part of IndiBlogger HappyHours in association with Mountain Dew https://www.facebook.com/mountaindewindia.

When we hear Mountain Dew we immediately remember "Cheeta bhi peeta hai" and "darr ke aage jeet hai" and Hrithik Roshan of course!!! Hrithik being aquaphobic was the best part in that advertisement and may be his dive helped me get over my phobia!!!

Now you can check their latest advertisement. Definitely an amazing and thrilling one :