Heather Thurmeier

Okay, not quite “Fearless” as in totally without fear. I mean, fear is a good thing. It keeps us safe and sound, and makes us question our choices so we’re sure we’re making the right ones. Of course, you don’t want to fall into the trap of being too fearful either, so I’ve been taking more steps to try and become more fearless in my life because more often than not, I fall to the fearful side of things. I tend to overthink, evaluate, speculate, consider all angles. It’s good sometimes, but other times, it’s definitely held me back.

Where did this all stem from? Well, this last few years has been challenging for my family. A few people have been diagnosed with serious illness and it’s made me reevaluate things. Life is too short to waste sitting around missing out on opportunities. Why not live while you can, right? Because you never know when your circumstances might change.

Last summer, we took the family to Banff Canada for a five days to get a taste of mountain living. It was amazing and beautiful and so relaxing. it was also a test of my living more fearlessly philosophy. I’m not a big fan of heights. I’m not a fan of places I can get trapped. I’m not a fan of letting my kids take risks where there is a possibility of serious injury involved. Call me crazy. But in Banff, I put all that aside and went with the moment. At no point were we in any real danger, but I did put myself in situations I found uncomfortable and scary…and ultimately amazing!

I climbed a rock slide! And so did my girls!! But first we had to cross the floating logs at the bottom. Once we got to the top we were rewarded with an awesome view… and a pathway that would’ve gotten us to the same point but without the risk of falling! LOL.

We hiked a trail to Constellation lake when there were bear warnings. Oh yeah. BEARS! But we went anyway. And it was awesome.

Hubs and the girls even made an Inukshuk.

And climbed across huge boulders without falling into any crevasses.

If that wasn’t enough, I was even convinced to ride a gondola to the top of a mountain. Okay, so I might have had a small panic attack on the way up, but the view from the top was inspiring and so worth it. I’m glad I didn’t chicken out and miss seeing it with my family!

This Christmas, the fun continued on a cruise. Remember that thing I mentioned about not liking hikes? Yes, well, I pushed that aside and did the ropes course on the ship. Now I know that wouldn’t be a big deal for many of you, but for me, it was pretty big. The ship is huge, and the ropes course is on top of it. Some of it goes along the side of the ship where you can see all the way down to the ocean below! Did I mention it’s windy up there too?!?!

But I’m so glad I did it when I had the chance and got to create those memories with my girls. I would have regretted it if I hadn’t!

Do you live fearlessly? I’d love to read some of your fearless moments in the comments!