I braved the unfamiliar path, with my red cloak following the north wind. I found a cavern, a safe refuge from the massive force outside. After the grand entrance, I was followed by unblinking eyes staring at me with curiosity. They were the undead, cold souls shocked by an unexpected stranger.
At least that was how I imagined it.
I arrived at this city called Comodoro Rivadavia after 450km +of hitchhiking, yet another place unknown to the world. It is a small city along the coast of Patagonia. I was exhausted and at the same time scared. I was scared of the wind, and I have never been in a place with such strong wind. The Patagonian coast is one of the windiest places on earth, and I was a paper. You can call this an irrational fear, afraid of being blown away. It was pretty crazy for me to think like that actually, so I found a cafe along the road where I could wait and hide.
I just needed to get to this town called Rada Tilly, 12km farther from where I was. Because of the strong wind, the long stretch of beach is known for kitesurfing, windsurfing, and landsailing. Landsailing is this three-wheeled cart with a sail powered by the wind force. There was even a Landsailing World Cup held on this beach. This coastal town also has one of the longest Seabee seawalls in the world.
I was actually just here to take a break from nonstop hitchhiking, but it was also interesting to get to know this place.
It was already late in the afternoon and my host was waiting for me in her house. All I needed to do was just get to the bus station to get to Rada Tilly, but I was scared to walk outside. I could hear the giant whispering, the Atlantic coast might swallow this place. All my life I attributed strong winds to a hurricane coming, and that was what I was thinking the whole time. However, I looked around and I saw everyone just doing their normal routines, people walking like zombies on the road, as if the strong wind was part of their everyday lives. So I guessed, it was just normal in this place. After all this discussion with myself, I finally went outside to get to my final destination.
We suffer more often in imagination than in reality
― Seneca
What do you fear?
Most of the time things are just all in your head, and you suffer more from imagining things than by actually going through it. Fear can help you stay out of a harmful situation, but being overpowered by it can be a great barrier to achieving your goal and arriving at your destination.
I learned that instead of waiting for fear to subside or go away, I had to curiously embrace what I was afraid of in order to overcome it. Instead of just waiting in the cafe until it got dark outside, I had to go out and be curious of the strong wind. Because in the end, everything was just in my head. My fear of strong wind will always follow me wherever I go, and this is one of the reasons I didn't get into kitesurfing or other wind sports. Here I am acting like I am brave the whole time when actually, I have fear of some things that people are usually unafraid of, and it just made me feel more insecure about myself.
Fear makes you worry about things that might never happen, it gives you an excuse not to do things. It is fine to feel fear, it will never go away and we all have it. But do what you have to do anyway, doing is the only way to overcome fear.
Replace fear with curiosity.
Instead of asking yourself what if, - why not?
Men go to far greater lengths to avoid what they fear than to obtain what they desire.