National Face Your Fears Day

In this modern age of awareness, it seems that we now have a National Day for just about everything.  When I found out that October 13th is now officially the National Face Your Fears Day,  I was chuckling a bit. 

My daughter, a Practicing Psycho Therapist, told me that it's important for all mentally healthy people to find creative ways to face their fears everyday.

Since October 13th is the official day and SlipIns Surfskins is all about water activity, I thought it would be fun to address some of the most prevalent fears that people are always talking about regarding water activities.

Sharks are the biggie. Simply put Selachobia is the fear of sharks.  This is the one that most people associate with that fear.

June 20th 1975 was the day that enhanced so many peoples fear of sharks.

So many people who saw the movie became very reluctant to enter the ocean water for quite some time.  I loved the movie and went back to see it 5 times.

Ironically, I became a surfer in 2002 and have been surfing for over 20 years now. One of the most exciting things for me is that I regularly surf at a beach that has it's own resident Great White Shark.  We call her Fluffy and we see her regularly.

Recently, a surfer buddy and I were in the water, sitting on our boards about 300 yards from shore, waiting for a wave.  I looked out and saw a very large fin heading our way.  I looked at my friend and said, " I think Fluffy is coming our way."  The fin kept getting higher out of the water as it came closer and my friend laughingly said, " Well, it's to late to paddle now"  As Fluffy passed by us,  we saw that she is now as wide as a pick-up truck and probably 18 - 20 feet long.  That was the moment I faced any fear that I ever had of sharks.  

We at SlipIns Surfskins decided early on to pay homage to Sharks by creating a Whale Shark DiveSkin pattern and Tiger Shark pattern for our Free Diving Suits.  These patterns allow the wearer to not only face their fears but associate with those underwater creatures.

Our Full Body Swimwear is ideal to get you into a position to confront your potential fears head on.

One of the other humorous thoughts that entered my mind regarding the National Face Your Fears Day was a memory of my mother who was terrified by fish.  My brothers and I tried on numerous occasions to get mom to come fish with us to no avail.  She was the poster child for Ichthyophobia.  She could barely stand to handle the fish after they had been cleaned, to cook them.  The faces she would make when she had to put the fish in the frying pan were soooo funny.

The one water fear that still challenges me substantially is Thalassophobia(fear of deep water).  This is the one thing that I never got over even after year of scuba diving.  I just can't bring myself to dawn my mask and head down into the depths on a Free Dive scenario.  I continue to work on that fear so come Tuesday, in honor of the National Face Your Fears Day I'll jump into my favorite full body Free Dive Suit ( Jammin Jellies ) and take another wack at getting over my Thalassophobia.  I hope you take  a little time on Tuesday October 13th and face up to your phobias as well.