There may be a time and place to tip toe into the water, but sometimes you just gotta dive right in. When you over come your fears and anxieties, you get a sense of liberation and relief. Even if you fail, you must not get discouraged, learn from it and try again, with a better approach.

If you want something, get it, don't be afraid of it.

Half a**ed attempts at life don't count either. Give it all you got!

Amen brotha Totage!!!

Wise words and ones I've taken to heart recently.

I moved to Florida nearly a year ago and have been afraid of swimming in the ocean since I saw Jaws at an apparently very impressionable age. Never could go in past my toes without hearing that stupid theme music and hyperventilating. Finally a few weeks ago I decided it was time to overcome my fears and I literally dove right in. Sure, I was nervous but I felt so proud of myself afterwards!

Ironically, I've been in a few times since and the last time I was out about waist deep and looked over only to spot about a 5 foot shark! I only saw its back, the fin and the tail end as it was diving under the water but Lord help me, I was on that beach in 2.2! Now this could have set me back drastically but not this chick. I regained my normal heart rate and went back in a short time later. I have come to the conclusion that I'd rather be devoured by a shark then let fear rule my life!

I thought this was going to be a thread about having to change a tractor tire or something, since we have yet to have one of those.

Anyway, if you are half a**ing your way through life, you only end up with a portion of the things you may dream of obtaining. I see that time and again from so many people.

And I love swimming. Even with sharks in the water.

That's a great story misswright. That's exactly what I'm talking about.

Believe it or not, changing a tractor tire is easier than changing a car tire.

LOL I am not as afraid of sharks as I am gators but you are right sometimes all the other great things in the water are worth the risk; as in life.

I'm not afraid of sharks or gators. I'm more worried about the raccoons around here. lol They're not afraid of people at all, probably because my grandma used to feed them.

Although there is a black bear and a 40ft python on the loose around here.

If I'm reading in to your message coreectly, and please correct me if I'm not, but what I'm getting out of it is that you sometimes must take risks in life. By doing so, you must follow through and don't do it with only half your effort, but instead, give it 100%.

I not a big one on taking risks, I prefer to stay in the safe zone, but recently a personal matter has come up in my life and it does require me to really put myself out there and take HUGE risk, which has me feeling very vulnerable, but because I believe in this matter, I'm going for it and I'm going ALL the way. My friends/family are trying to talk me out of it because they believe it's a big mistake I'm making. But if I don't take the risk, I will NEVER know what the results would turn out to be. So, I'm going forward and doing it!

Wish me luck!

Risk and reward. If I feel the reward is worth the risk, nothing stops me. But, I see no reason to risk my safety or even reputation if there is nothing to be gained but getting over fear.

Swimming with sharks? Not unless there's a chest of gold down there.

That's what I'm talking about. I wish you the best. Nobody ever became successful sitting on the side lines.

sometimes over coming your fear is the chest full of gold. If you're afraid to swim with the sharks, just dress like a dolphin. :P

I would rather try and fail than to never make an attempt and always wonder what could have been. 'What ifs...' weigh heavily on your brain and your heart. This applies to so many facets of life too...relationships, dreams, jobs, even swimming in the ocean with sharks.

I'm not a risk taker per se, I'm certainly no Steve Erwin at this point, but sitting on the towel while my friends frolicked in the waves was agonizing, all because I MIGHT get eaten by a shark. Hell, I'm more likely to get killed in a car accident yet I still drive everyday! The ability to have fun with them now is worth more than a pot of gold (even with the astronomical price of gold these days!).

I suppose irrational fears are the ones that need to be overcome most, but in reality any fear can be crippling. I would rather give 100% and know that it just wasn't meant to be than spend the rest of my days regretting my decision to not even try because I was too afraid of the outcome. I think the tip toes should be saved for the tulips...from now on I'm balls to the walls for anything I want!

Other times embracing your fears is the chest of gold. Steven King is a great example.

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You know I always aim to please. :P

Naw...I am a "let the other guy do the work and I will swoop in to get the credit" kinda guy. It is more energy efficient.

What I am going to say will sound like bs, but it is true as the gospel.

The best defence when you are attacked by a shark, is to bite it. No joke. Sharks are actually nice people, and they are really timid. They like to eat, for sure, but they don't like confrontation and they don't like pain. They are always the first to back down from a fight of equals. This is true, ask any oceanologist.

Then there is only a myth that sharks eat people. Sharks hate eating people. they only attack humans when there is blood in the water. If you don't want to be eaten by a shark, don't go into the water during your period, period. No matter what tampon or other stuff you wear in there.

Please note from here on that in movies it's always a young woman who is attacked, at the prime of her life. This plays well into the horror movie genre, where the girls are tastier to cut into many pieces if they are young and stacked. But in this case, with the shark movies, there is a ton of true facts involved. This is a coincidence, that favours the healthy young beautiful and regular woman to be eaten both by natural laws and by the preferred story lines in scripts. The guys are left alone, old women are left alone. These two demographics don't bleed that readily in their natural states. It's the menstrual flow that attracts the shark, as a shark will go for any source of blood. Other than that, they leave humans alone.

Sharks are simple animals, quite predictable. They are remnants from types of species from a billion years ago. So they are not sophisticated, like women, but are simple, predictable, and easy to figure out what they will do next. For the same reason they can't be tamed and taught tricks. No Seaquarium features sharks. Their thinking processes and nervous systems are pretty well hard-wired.

It is therefore also cruel to compare lawyers' behaviour to that of these gentle and feeble animals who are quite childlike and innoicent. It's just they are always hungry which gets them the bad rep.

So don't go into the water when you are bleeding.

Good luck, Caliente!! Remember, you can only lose your virginity once, so we are all behind you in this project. Ask him to be gentle and ease up on his advance every time you tense up or when you go into a catatonic stupor or coma.

In my experience, a little bit (or a lot) of alcohol would help. Much depends on how cute he is or is not.

Are you doing this because of a court order?