One of the ways to overcome fear, learned through surfing.
First of all, 'nervousness' and 'fear' are different.
'Nervousness' can stem from the 'hope' of wanting to successfully accomplish what you've worked hard for. So, it's natural to feel 'nervous' if you've trained diligently up until that day. If you praise yourself, thinking, 'This is proof that I've worked hard!', and give a wry smile, it will quickly dissipate.
'Trembling' comes from fear... The 'trembling' I felt while surfing was a feeling of being overwhelmed by the size of the waves, the vastness of nature (almost like a near-drowning experience).
When you're not used to it, even paddling out past big waves is a struggle. Also, if you wipe out in a big wave, you can get tumbled around like in a washing machine at the bottom of the ocean, and you can't surface for air. Then, if you feel a 'snap!!' before you reach the surface, it's pretty much the end, the final curtain. It's proof that the leash connecting your board to your leg has snapped. You have no choice but to swim for your life back to the beach. Your board will fly away on its own, carried by the waves... tears. Going through this experience every time is tough, and even though I know this, trembling leads to unnecessary mistakes. I wanted to avoid trembling as much as possible and perform at my best with no errors.
So, I thought carefully about how to overcome 'trembling' at that time.
People don't feel 'trembling' when they are happy.
Of course it is! you say? lol. You see, everything starts with re-examining what is obvious and taken for granted (in my case). So. When people are happy, how do they react? It's "smiling," isn't it? If there's a happy person who's furious, that's a separate case. They're a psychopath.
So, if you're happy, you smile. Sometimes, people who are happy start dancing or singing, right?
And, you know, there are people who say, 'I'm happy when I dance,' right? Is it because they're happy that they dance? Or is it because they dance that they become happy?...
Ah, could this be it??!! I thought, this is it!
What if I send a reverse current to my brain??!!! What do you think???
The brain anticipates fear, so it spreads jitters throughout the body, right? That's why I decided to paddle out with a stupid grin, no matter how big the waves. And what happens then? The signals flowing back from the body (with a grin) to the brain make the brain 'mistakenly' think, 'Oh, this guy is happy right now.' (Assuming you've trained, of course.) Fear is nothing but an obstacle.
I'm saying goodbye to 'jitters.' For big waves, I'll paddle out laughing, singing, or screaming! 'Happy reverse current to the brain' – that's it!!!
