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Fear is Your Compass, Not Your Enemy
Unleash it, don’t tame it
“One day, I just remember, something changed in me. I was pulling in a nice fish that I was going to bring home for dinner when this big shark came up to take it.”
Kimi Werner is the United States National Spearfishing Champion. She grew up in an isolated part of coastal Maui, free diving with her father to search for their primary source of food.
In Fishpeople, a short film by Patagonia that documents the stories of four people whose lives have been transformed by the sea, Kimi Werner shares the story of the day she finally confronted her fear of sharks.
She continues:
“And I just swam faster towards my catch and pulled it in faster, closer to me. Everything [I was doing] was bringing this shark much closer to me. But I got my hands on my catch and just pulled it in towards me. And then I swam at that shark just to tell it: ‘Not today buddy — go get your own dinner. This is mine!’ And the minute I did that, that shark took off.”
“And that taught me a lot. It taught me that the energy that I put out there — the confidence and courage I show in holding my ground — it’s going to communicate to the sharks what kind of animal I am.”
