I still remember that morning like it was yesterday...
I was living on a sailboat in the South Pacific with my boyfriend, who is now my fiance, and we were anchored off the coast of an island in French Polynesia called Moorea.
"We're going to swim with the rays today," he says to me.
"Oh, Tampa Bay's baseball team is here too!?," I reply. My sarcasm wasn't appreciated by him and much to my dismay not the case at hand for me.
My palms started sweating. I felt the sting of tears coming to my eyes. I'm scared of deadly things that swim in the ocean. I...was...petrified. Just because my fiance would rather live underwater than on shore with me and just because he has gills somewhere on his body I have yet to be able to locate does not mean that everyone enjoys jumping head first into water filled with the same creature who caused the death of Steve Irwin. Yet before I knew it we were in the dinghy off for our days adventure.
Once anchored in about 4 feet, they came towards us like grey torepedos through the water. Cruise ships frequented the area so they were used to being fed but, all the same, just as deadly. Along with the stingrays there were several 4 ft black tip sharks hanging out curious what all the fuss was about. Raw oyster in hand, Drew was in the water before I could even blink. Mind you he did the same once when we realized there were hammerheads swimming around the boat as well. Fear smear. I, on the other hand, couldn't even bring myself to hang my feet over the side of the dinghy. I probably stayed there for 30 minutes or so before I even contemplated going in myself. IF I was going to do this it was going to be documented so I set the camera up on a stand we carried with us to snap pictures.
After counting to 3 about fifty times I finally slid down the side of the dinghy and into the water. No splash, no attention drawn to myself. Didn't matter. Within seconds they were all over me like white on rice. From the picture above can you tell I panicked just a little!?! The feeling of not only having them near me but on me was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. Were they looking to hurt me? No. Was I still scared? Yes. I said more four letter words than as a Southern Lady I care to admit. After a long while though I calmed down a bit and if able I could show you several more pictures of me where I'm petting them, swimming with them, kissing....no, I'm just kidding.
So where in sam heck am I going with this and how does it relate to real estate? Well, like that day in Moorea, I remember the first day I walked into Coldwell Banker wanting to be an agent. I remember the first time a client called and wanted to go see property. I remember my first listing appointment. I remember my first listing. Like that day in Moorea, each of those experiences was scary too. The unknown is tough and like the sting rays, unpredictable. At the beginning of the day I never know what the end will have brought to my table. Just six months in and in a tough market, there are still scary days and times ahead. There are contracts I've never had to fill, paperwork I don't understand, questions I don't know answers to, and tons of other Realtors competing against me. But as in situations passed, I know that in the end it's all going to be ok. I know with leaps of faith and having trust in myself that I can overcome my fears and do things I never thought possible. The very best part being that when it's all said and done I may even look back and realize that the truth of the matter is, I actually enjoyed it.
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