Is there a phobia standing in your way?

Is there a phobia standing in your way?

Take a moment now to look around and check; a quiet fear, perhaps, but all pervading, or maybe your fear is never quiet and never far away…

In 2007 Felix Baumgartner had a dream,

to skydive faster than the speed of sound. But as he started training for this 24 mile dive out of the sky he encountered a major problem. The protective pressure suit he was required to wear made him feel claustrophobic and very anxious.

Accustomed to skydiving with no protective clothing,

not even gloves in Winter, Felix had grown accustomed to feeling the temperature of the air around him and the speed of his fall, throughout his whole body. Suddenly, he was faced with the necessity of wearing a hand-sewn pressure suit, designed to maintain his life should he ever need to land on the moon. Its key features, of strength and resilience impacted significantly upon his experience of wearing the suit. Baumgartner commented the first time he tried it on that it felt as though “the outside didn’t exist anymore”. Breathing became more difficult, physical feeling sensations disappeared and all movement became significantly limited.

“It’s just you – having a hard time breathing, and it’s hard dealing with the loneliness. You start thinking about the big jump, when you’re sitting in the gondola for two hours, getting higher and higher, you’ve totally lost your connection to the earth. If something goes wrong, you have to pay for it.”

Felix’s fear was so intense

that he had to work hard to manage to wear the suit on the ground, during training.

Unlike astronauts, who spend up to 2000 training hours in their pressurised suits, Felix, due to the sponsor’s time constraints, had to achieve the same result in only 20 hours.

“The higher you go the more the suit inflates, so it gets harder to move. You can feel your stomach getting squeezed, you can feel your heart beat getting faster.”

Felix’s anxiety levels became so high that he decided to take a year out and used that time to overcome his fear through hypnotherapy.

On 14 October 2012 Felix set a new world record

for skydiving an estimated 39 km and reaching an estimated top speed of 1,357.64km/h.

He became the first person to break the sound barrier relative to the surface without vehicular power as he descended.

He also set skydiving records for exit altitude, vertical speed without a drogue and vertical freefall distance without a drogue parachute.

You can watch him in action here. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/video/2012/oct/15/felix-baumgartner-skydive-space-video

 

 

If you have a phobia that is standing between you and your dreams, or goals, or even just getting in the way of everyday life, perhaps it’s time to take action, like Felix did.

It took Felix a year but that’s more than unusual.

Many phobias can be cured in just a single session or two.

If you feel ready to overcome whatever phobia is standing in your way, why not contact me today for a free, no obligation, consultation ?