I still remember thinking to myself when I saw Xavier scaling the slab wall in SAFRA Yishun using his trekking boots, that what he did was ‘crazy’. That was my first encounter with the 18m artificial rock wall some years back and I was struggling to get up in rock shoes.

Half of the time while I was up there, I was coping with my fear of heights and being a newbie to rock climbing, it was a struggle for me to move my way up. To force myself to move higher despite all the quivering and trembling of my quadriceps and calves.

Yet, just today, I managed to scale the slab wall with trekking boots and a 17kg backpack. Going up on a jumar helped a lot, and I can now climb up high and look down below..it used to be that I will be the one standing farthest away from the ledge or platform. Even had a nice chat with Jane on the top of the ledge while hanging off a safety anchor and trying to negotiate my way through a transverse point.

It also gave me a certain sense of satisfaction to know that I can now abseil. The first time I did it in my training days, it was a topsy-turvy experience with my body rotated all around as I lost my footing when I tried to form the L shape to go down.

I think that it is only natural to be fearful when we are confronted with the unknown, yet it gives me great comfort to learn that one will always have the ability to make the best of it when one persists in meeting the challenge and not running away from it.

Learn to manage fears…Courage is not an absence of fear but how we cope with it.

A sense of quiet confidence is building up from within.