Here are a few pics of the resort, the beautiful ocean view, and even some of the local "wildlife".
One of the highlights of the trip for both of us was getting the chance to visit a local Mayan community, where we went on a zipline tour. Needless to say, this was a bid of an adrenaline rush for all involved, as the ziplines get increasingly higher off the ground, with the highest one being well above the rainforest canopy!
Here are a couple pics from our first zipline experience.
You can't see it from the pics, but Nicole was quite a bit nervous about getting on the first zipline, as were many of the participants. I had no shortage of adrenaline pumping myself, but this experience made me reflect a bit about my training and how it has benefited me. The bottom line is that, physiologically speaking, there was no difference between me and the rest of the group at that moment, i.e. all of our hearts were pounding, hands were shaking, and we all had all manner of "don't do it!" type thoughts running through our brains.
My martial arts training and competition experiences have not in any way caused me to be less susceptible to this "fight or flight" response. After all, you can't counter act thousands of years of human evolution with a mere decade or two of training! So how has this training benefited me with regard to dealing with fear?
Quite simply, various experiences I've had within my martial arts training have made me somewhat familiar with the experience of encountering a "scary" situation, but still making the decision to move forward in spite of fear. That's really all it is, a decision to move forward rather than stand still or back away. The reward for moving forward is getting a little bit more experienced in dealing with fear, as well as the reward of whatever experience made you afraid in the first place. In our case, everyone made the decision to move forward despite being scared, and we all became better people and had a great time as a result!
One other chance we each had to deal with our fears and potentially reap the benefits came after the ziplines. We had the opportunity to swim in the underground caves, but not before getting a blessing from a Mayan shaman...
The water in the caves was as clean and clear as any I'd ever swam in. IT WAS ALSO COLD!!! But, after hiking around in the heat all morning, we all welcomed the chance to cool off.
We had the opportunity to swim in a couple different caves that day. For some, the experience of diving in to the water while not even knowing how deep the pools might be or where there might be rocks to avoid was a somewhat harrowing experience. But everyone jumped in and had a great swim.
The last of the caves we entered was only accessible by climbing at least 10 feet straight down a ladder into the ground. Upon entering the cave, we were standing on a man-made wooden platform about 20 some feet above the water. Those that wanted to go for a swim had two choices: a leisurely walk down the steps into the water, or a leap off the platform! Here was another chance for several people in the group to battle their fears. Not everyone chose to take the leap off the platform, and after doing it myself, I certainly don't blame them!
There were a couple of things I noticed about the decisions we made that day.
1. Very often, we leap because we have no other choice.
Unlike the leap off the cave platform, there really was no viable way to back out of the ziplines themselves. No separate path to walk to the other side. Hence, no one backed out of this.
2. The longer we wait to make the decision to leap, the harder the decision becomes.
I noticed one thing about several of the people who eventually decided not to leap off the platform. They waited way too long to make the decision. It seemed as though the longer they waited, the more their fear grew, and the more those thoughts of doubt were able to pile up on them. Eventually, they were able to come up with more reasons not to leap than reasons to go for it, and they chose not to.
3. The scariest part is always before we make the decision to leap.
As I stood on the platform waiting to jump, I definitely had plenty of "don't do it" thoughts bubbling up into my brain. And the fear itself seemed to grow more and more just up until the moment I stepped off. Given that the drop was a good 20 feet, I had a good couple of seconds to register what I was feeling on the way down. I noticed that once I started to fall, the fear itself was gone. Granted, there's still the sensation of a long freefall, which anyone who's stepped onto a roller coaster knows all to well. But at that moment, there were no thoughts going through my head, no fear, no hesitation.
I just made the decision, stepped off, and let gravity do the rest.
