So yesterday I visited the worlds largest indoor theme park in Dubai, IMG World of Adventures boasting an impressive 1.5 million sq ft – or 28 football fields – of unparalleled fun, state-of-the-art thrill-rides and lifestyle dinosaurs.

Now I’m NOT a theme park enthusiast by any stretch of the imagination. I am averse to anything higher than 5 meters and hate anything that has excessive speed (I can just about handle being on the motorway) so clearly you can see I’m lot’s of fun to take to a theme park! (Not).

Unsurprisingly, I have never been on a roller coaster in my life and had no intentions of going on one either but my family pressed me to go on the on Predator – one of the rides at IMG. I was having none of it. Here is why:

• Length: 1,184.4 ft
• Height: 72.2 ft
• Inversions: 3
• Speed: 43.5 mph
• Vertical Angle: 97°
• Elements: Vertical Chain Lift Hill, Loop, Cutback and Heartline Roll

VERTICAL LOOP?? I don’t think so. But guess what? My 12 year old daughter who was with me said something so very pertinent and it stung me like a bee. She said, ‘Mum, how can you post videos on Facebook and YouTube telling people to come out of their comfort zone and you can’t do it yourself? That’s not fair and it’s not right.’

These words penetrated and I knew that she was a child, like many others that learned through the behavours of their parents. I knew that I had to show her that we have to tackle fear head on and that I HAD to follow through on the things I say daily.

I had to use Mel Robbins 5 Second Rule to get on that ride. I had to muster every ounce of prayer and faith to get me moving. Whilst waiting by the gates, I asked the operator how long the ride was, how long the vertical drop was, what would happened if I fainted. I was trying to validate my reason for not going on. But I used the 5 second rule 5-4-3-2-1 and got in my seat!

Firmly strapped in and singing ‘Jesus Be a Fence All Around Me Every Day’ (my song of choice when I feel like I’m near death….. the machinery started with a jerk. I screamed and then we were off!

I can’t tell you how many times I fainted, neither can I share with you how many profanities I screamed, or that I looked like a hot mess when I came off but I made it through.

I was determined to break my own cycle of fear and even went back on a second time but this time with my mother who was more scared than I was! Well done Pearline!!

I felt ecstatic, elated and empowered. I was no longer petrified and debilitated by fear.

My new word for the year 2018 has got to be ‘FEARLESS’

• Fearless in my asking
• Fearless in my negotiating
• Fearless in my business
• Fearless in my desire to be the best in my field
• Fearless in leading others
• Fearless in my pursuit of happiness

When you do something, you’ve not done before, expect to see and feel different results!

5-4-3-2-1 then MOVE!

Michelle Raymond…. Ms Fearless

www.michelleraymond.co.uk