Today, the girls hit the ground running, straight to the kiddie's area to get their bearings. They were back in about three minutes, when they found out that they were too old and too tall. So they cut their losses and headed off to the first of the rides that they were going to be on.
Yesterday, after Lilian had decided that the rides at Movie World were too scary, we had a sit down and talked about the psychology of fear. Whilst, I am not a psychologist, I do know a thing or two about how, if you let it, anxiety will talk yourself out of doing things that you really want to do. The last thing that I wish for Lilian is to have her get to my age and look back on things and say if only.
We talked about how she has to reframe her thinking. Currently, she is associating the feeling of adrenalin with fear, and that makes everything scary. We talked about how the lack of Saber-toothed tigers wandering the streets of the Gold Coast, so it was not helpful. We ran through how she needed to separate the emotion and how that feels. For those who have done a lot of psychology, you will understand where I am coming from.
So, today, Lilian told herself that she was going to have fun and that she won't be scared and controlled by her anxiety. And she successfully managed it. On the first ride of the day, she came down she waterslide and was not looking like she had just looked the grim reaper in the eyes.
As I thought, the girls both had a fantastic day stretching themselves and trying a large selection of rides. I had been unable to get onto the rides today as my knee was stuffed, but hopefully, with it in a brace for the next day, I will be able to get myself onto some of the rides.
Tomorrow we will be off to SeaWorld to have our penguin adventure. Both girls are looking forward to it, but this was Lilian's dream experience, so she is really looking forward to it.
