Could you tell me a time you felt scared?

Twenty years of family trips to Cornwall means I'm no stranger to the sea. When I moved to Falmouth to start uni, I wanted to go in the sea every day, I wanted to feel the current ebb and flow around me, the smoothness of the rocks under my feet. The sea heals me, my body and mind reaping the combined benefits of immersing in cold and salty water.

But on my second trip down to the beach in September, as I stood in the shallows with the icy water raking pebbles and sand over my bare feet, a wave at least two or three foot taller than me roared in and swallowed me whole. Without warning, I was tumbled over and over, completely engulfed by the wave. After what was probably only about 5 seconds (it seemed endless) the wave had the decency to spit me unceremoniously back onto the rough stone and sand of the beach.

Stumbling away from the water's edge I laughed it off. I was with a group of new people and I didn't want to show what I was really feeling.

In those 5 seconds being tossed about like a chew toy by the sea, I was more scared than I had been in a very long time. It took a split second to take me from happy and smiling to feeling sheer terror that I was genuinely going to die.

Since that second week of term, I haven't been in the sea, even on calm days. It's something I'll be doing more in 2021, but for three months I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Men have an issue with fear. "Walk it off" is a term that is casually thrown about all too often. We often feel we need to display an ever-strong exterior. However much overwhelming fear I felt in that moment, I walked casually up the beach, got dry and dressed and got on with my evening. That's a mindset that all guys need to get rid of. Displaying out emotions is a part of being human. Never be afraid to show that you're afraid.