Way, way back in the early 90's, I was a small child... I was about 5 or 6 years old when this happened, I believe. It was a nice, warm summer day, about 1 PM. The sun was blazing high in the sky, and I was at a small park in the center of my tiny rural town. A festival was going on that day, with all sorts of carnival rides, game booths, and live music. This mattered not to me. My heart was set on the swingset, as swinging has always given me great joy and exhilaration. So, into a swing I climbed, and I started swinging, back and forth, higher and higher. What a rush! But soon, I felt the urge to jump from the swing and sail through the air. So I jumped, and sailed through the air! Whee!

Then, I climbed back into the swing and started it up for another go. At this time, it would be good to point out that a heavy rain had fallen the previous day, and a rather large water puddle had collected underneath the swings. Now, I was swinging, swinging, going higher and higher, and I was getting all set to jump. As I was about to launch myself from my swing, I suddenly had my doubts as to whether or not I would clear the puddle, and then doubts as to whether or not I should jump. In that instant, due to my doubts as of whether or not to jump, I did a sort of half-jump, with my lower half having left the swing, but my arms still clutching the chains. Somehow, I flipped over and got into a strange position where I was hanging from the swing, in mid-air, by my legs, and then... SPLASH!! I fall, stomach-down, into the drink, and get up, extremely soaking wet. It must have been entirely funny to anyone who was watching at that point!



Years later, I look back on the incident and realize that I learned a lesson that day. Self-doubt is not good for you, and if you doubt yourself in the middle of something important, it can lead to bad results. Even today, if I'm having my doubts as of whether to call that girl or not, or whether I should go out of town tonight, or whether it's really neccessary for me to say something to someone... I remember myself in that swing as a child, and the consequences of letting my doubts gain the upper hand.

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