Facing Fears

I recently shared this photo on my social media pages and received a lot of positive responses and many people telling me how brave I was to stand on Kjeragbolten, hovering 984 meters above the fjord below. The truth is, I am not sure how brave I really was in this moment. I spent the weeks, even months, before the Norway trip having nightmares )and daymares!) about this hike. I felt like I was in a state of panic the entire hike to the rock. When I finally had my turn to step onto the rock, I froze. I put out my right foot, let it hover for a moment, and then quickly pulled it back. Then I did the same thing with the left foot. My heart started racing, I began to sweat, and suddenly I felt this sense of dread that I would not be able to conquer this fear. Just as I was about to turn around and walk away in defeat, a very kind and very brave woman decided to help me out. She firmly took my hand and allowed me to use her as a support as I edged my way onto the rock. She continued to hold my hand until I felt steady, and then let go briefly so I could pose for a few photos. After what felt like a few hours, but was more like a few seconds, she extended her hand to me so that I could safely step off the rock. So you tell me, was I really brave? I honestly don’t know if I could have accomplished this goal without the kindness of this stranger, but does that matter? Sometimes people need extra support or a helping hand to accomplish a task, but does that take away from the fact that they ultimately did it?