June 8 • Issue #1
A newsletter featuring activities to spark creativity and inspire adventure. For more, check out the Get Afraid Journal.
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Back in the 90’s most kids looked forward to Saturday morning cartoons. I looked forward to our mailbox. I’d pop it open at 10AM every Saturday to see if the latest issue of GamePro had arrived. I’d spend my mornings laying face down on the couch with the magazine spread out on the floor. Flipping, flipping, flipping.
As a teenager, I developed an addiction to Entertainment Weekly. I’d read and re-read the letters to the editor, movie reviews, and jokes.
I looked forward to weekends, because I knew I’d always have something to do. I could count on Entertainment Weekly. Great new movie? I’d go see it. Fun new album? Let me save up for it. I miss that feeling. I want to keep trying new things.
Get Afraid Today isn’t a newsletter you read; it’s a newsletter you do. Each issue I’ll recommend something new to try, read, watch or listen to.
This Week: Step Off Dry Land
Swimming, sailing, ice skating, or snowboarding? What do you want to try? Make sure to share your story with someone afterwards.
🖋 Journal Entry
Water is a trap. It’s beautiful out on the horizon and can feel wonderful on a hot day, but it’s deceptively dangerous. Especially if you never learned how to swim.
I remember exactly two things from swim lessons I took as a kid.
We had to shower before getting into the pool
My Dad gave me a Lego set when I graduated
That’s it. Somewhere in there I learned how to swim, but my memories of actual swim lessons are murky. I don’t even remember getting into a pool.
When I got to high school, I remember, we had to jump in the water with our clothes on so we could learn how to not drown in them. It was ridiculous. Not only did we have to jump in fully-clothed (with our swimsuits underneath), but we also had to pull our clothes off and blow them up like a shoddy life-vest.
I tried yanking my shirt off, but it got stuck halfway over my head. It was terrifying. My arms were wrapped up, so I couldn’t use them to stay afloat and it was hard to breathe because I had wet fabric draped over my face. After a few treacherous moments of panic I was able to reach back and peel the shirt over my head.
Looking back, I don’t understand the point of our exercise. I guess I get why it’s important to remove baggy clothes before they sink you, but why did I have to take my t-shirt off? Is that on the GED? Jack would’ve survived in Titanic if he’d just taken off his pants and exhaled into them.
I try to stick with bathing suits these days. No baggy jeans.
— Jed
Links About Stepping Off Dry Land
▷ Watch:
A huge cluster of sardines tries to evade a swarm of birds, sharks and dolphins.
📖 Read:
The dizzying story of Symphony of the Seas, the largest and most ambitious cruise ship ever built.
This is the inside story of how cruise ships went from pensioners’ pastime to floating cities engaged in an all-out entertainment arms race.
I’ve taken three cruises. With itineraries to Alaska and the Caribbean. The food was great, there were a ton of entertainment options and we woke up in a new location almost every morning. If you can get past a fear of seasickness and boredom, “Industry satisfaction ratings regularly exceed 94 per cent.”
🎵 Listen:
Pacific Standard Magazine: Sailing Blind
At the extreme end of adaptive sports, technology allows visually impaired sailors to compete without the assistance of sighted crewmembers.
Reader Responses
Previous Activity: Try a New Food
I tried duck last week. They weren’t kidding about the grease. Their feathers must sop it all up.
— Fake Pearson (But this could be you!)
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©2019 Get Afraid Today. The publisher is providing information so that you can have the knowledge and can choose, at your own risk, to act on that knowledge.