Everything has its beginning, and no one is bound with wealth or experiences; they're acquired via giving things a try, and throughout my life to date I've had the opportunity to delve into different things—those I'm scared of and those I'm excited about, those I'm skeptical about and those I jump into without considering everything. They all hold their memories and feelings they give, and that's why in this article I'll be exploring the first time I did one particular thing; it could be anything, as I've done lots of things, like driving, cooking, swimming, and many more, to name but a few. But today I'll be focusing on the first time I travelled via water transportation and how I felt during and after that experience.
I was very much younger when I travelled via water transportation for the first time. It was during my primary school days, and prior to that day I had only travelled by road and rail, so experiencing this new means presented two feelings: one was excitement of trying it out and boasting to my friends and classmates about it, while the other was of fear and panic regarding if anything goes wrong, how will I survive? Unfortunately for me, the latter feeling was what superseded my concern, especially given the fact that when the journey began and I stepped into the canoe, I realized it had a dent underneath, which allowed water from the river to enter into the boat.
Immediately I realized this, I began to cry and say I don't want to go again. I almost even jumped out of the boat into the river if not for my aunt, who grabbed me and asked me to calm down because nothing will happen and it's normal for most canoes around there to have dents, and so I clung to her throughout the journey, afraid to let go. Especially given the fact that the farther we went away from land, the more water gushed in from the dent, but then it couldn't fill up the boat because someone was assigned to use a small bowl to scrape the water gushing in back into the river. It's a scary sight to behold, especially given the fact that it's my first time, so I was afraid and desperate to see the journey come to an end.
To say I'm scared would be an understatement, because it was visible in the way I grinned at my aunt, whom I was travelling with that very day. And for most of the journey, especially when we got to the middle of the body of water and saw no land in sight, I had to close my eyes out of fear and didn't open them again until I was told land was in sight again. Finally, when we got to the shore, I was among the first to jump down and run to land out of the fear going through my mind. I'm certain that very moment was where I developed a phobia for large bodies of water, because I even vowed to never enter a boat in my life again, even though I've done that at least twice after that, but there was the same feeling as the first.
All photos are taken and edited on canva.