My first private adult swim lesson is on Sunday October 7th and to say I am nervous might not quite describe the amount of anxiety I have about this journey.
I have had a fear of water since I can remember. My parents gave me every single swimming lesson they could find and none of them "stuck". I would wear down the instructors refusing to put my face in the water. They would throw rubber rings to get me to go to the bottom of the pool and I would just shake my head "No". They tried everything; the promise of candy, stickers, ribbons, but I wouldn't budge. The threat of drowning wasn't worth a watermelon Jolly Rancher or a "You are a Star" sticker. At some point they would give up and tell me to go sit on a deck chair and wait for my Mom to pick me up. Erin: 1 Swim Instructor: 0.
As I got older there was a certain amount of shame attached to not being able to swim, but it was not enough to get me to try and swim. Friends and younger siblings weren’t happy always having to stay in the shallow end with me and they left me for deeper waters. It wasn't any fun being alone at the safe end of the pool and so I gave up trying to learn to swim.
During my teenage years I was happy to just sit poolside and soak up the rays and possible melanoma rather than swim in the pool. I was young and didn’t realize I should have been more fearful of developing cancer rather than learning to doggie paddle.
At some point I made a silent deal with God that if I didn’t put myself in dangerous situations involving water like para-sailing, skiing, or taking a riverboat dinner cruise, he didn’t let my car plunge off of a bridge into a creek in some freak accident. (It has worked out thus far.)
Now I am middle-aged and I am looking back on things that I have missed. I realized I have regrets about not being able to swim and so I decided that I would consider learning to swim. It took me a couple of years to gain enough courage, but when a trip to Hawaii came into my future I figured it was time. My husband wants to snorkel during the trip and I would like to be able to go with him. I don’t want to miss anything because of my fear.
So here I am. On Sunday I will literally be standing at the edge of the pool ready to jump in and face my phobia of water. Will I sink or swim? I am hoping for “swim” and I hope the instructor has plenty of stickers and Jolly Ranchers because I am really going to try, but just in case I made sure my 69 year old mother is available to pick me up early.
Next: The First Lesson
love it!! good luck today! and keep on posting...this was hysterical!
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