Growing up, I've always had this phobia for water. It probably stemmed from the fact that I spent most of my childhood days indoors. My parents were particularly strict about playing in the rain with the other kids from the neighborhood, and this created some kind of weird image in my head. I felt something bad was in the water.
Now that I'm an adult, I no longer have to do all that my parents say, but I've still not been able to let go of the fear that has inhabited my mind about water. Of course, I drink water, wash with it, bathe with it, and even cook with it, but if it rains, I'll find myself hiding behind closed doors. Often times, my friends will suggest that we go for a swim, but at the end of the day, I'll call in sick and stay back home. I couldn't let them become aware of my situation, and though they would've loved to teach me, I just couldn't see myself stepping my feet into the water, let alone dipping my whole body into it.
During the holidays, I decided to visit home. My parents and siblings were all happy to see me, but soon I saw a reason to actually learn how to conquer my fear of water.
Every evening, my siblings would always go for a swim. They would ask me to go with them, which is the proper thing to do, but I would turn down their invitation and promise to tag along another time. I made those promises so they could leave me be; I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep them. So, one of these days, they were so adamant, and I had no choice but to go with them. I was certainly not going to swim; all I wanted to do was watch them, but what I saw them do amazed me so much.
The breaststroke, the backstroke, the sidestroke, and every other move there seemed superb to me. It felt surreal. They moved so rapidly and fast under water, and my eyes bulged from just watching in awe. After witnessing this, I was sure that I was having a change of heart about the whole swimming issue. "I am definitely going to swim like that." I told myself as we headed home.
With the decision to finally swim, I had just one more problem, and that was who would tutor me in the swimming process. I thought of asking my siblings, but I felt they might make a mockery of me. I mean, in this part of the world where I come from, it's expected of everyone to be able to swim, but I couldn't even dip my legs into the water. That was very bad and worrisome. Finally, I summoned up the courage and sorted for my little sister's help, and she surprisingly agreed to guide me through it all, and thus, I began my quest to become good underwater.
I must say, it was not an easy task, as it took so long before I could get myself to dip my feet into the water. It felt like something might pull me from under, and I'd probably drown or maybe go missing. My siblings were patient and nice with their humble tutoring.
They would sometimes jeer at me and make funny remarks about my amateurish swimming skills: "If you keep closing your eyes like that, I wonder if you'll be able to see when a shark swims towards you." My little sister would always say this whenever I dived into the water with my eyes closed. I had my fears then. The fear that the water could flow into my eyes and probably blind me kept me from opening my eyes. But over time, I slowly started to open my eyes a little bit after I must've dived in, and soon, I was able to dive in with my eyes open.
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Though I've not really perfected my swimming skills and I can't stay underwater for a long time yet, I'm still proud of the fact that I conquered my fear of water. And I'm looking forward to when my friends suggest a swim again. I will gladly accept the invitation without hesitation. But still, I'll be very wise enough to avoid the deeper parts of the water, so my little swimming skills will not fail me.
Hopefully, with time and a lot of practice, I might become a perfectionist in swimming.
Thanks for reading
