"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says 'I'm possible!'" — Audrey Hepburn
For a long time I have always wanted to learn how to swim. I grew up in a town where there was always noise here and there and for security reasons my parents barely allowed me to go out without monitoring.
When we moved to our own house which was more nature-like, some things changed. At first, I didn't quite enjoy the quietness as I was used to noise and all that. But in time I began to enjoy the beauty of nature and one of the reasons was that there are lakes around. So I thought to myself, This could be an opportunity for me to learn how to swim.
There was a day I went with some of my neighbor's kids to visit the lakes, I saw most of them swimming, even little children swimming and having fun.
"Come In", they beckon on me to join them. No, I can't swim, I responded. "Don't worry it's very easy ". I so much wanted to have fun as well so I decided to join them.
While in the water, I tried moving as I saw them doing and ended up taking in lots of gallons of water.The thought that it was "easy" left me immediately. I was told it would get easy as time went by. So after that day, I promised myself to learn how to swim.
But all that was cut short because one day I decided to visit again and learn, this time I went alone. I tried moving my body but the weight of the water kept dragging me down, I was taking in lots of water, I struggled to breathe as it was getting into my nose and mouth and I knew I had to stop before I hurt myself.
Then I realized that maybe swimming wasn't just for me, so I stopped and was just contented with watching others. Even though, deep inside of me, the longing remains still.
Fast forward to when I got into a higher institution. There was a time all the students in my department from 100 level to the final year students went out for a 3-day outing in another state where we visited lots of places. We visited the cocoa house at Ibadan where I took a lift for the first time in my life.
On the last day, our lecturers decided to take us out where we would have fun. We had been visiting places for mainly educational purposes and they decided to give us a chance to have fun as well. After all "All work and no play makes Jill a dull girl" 😃😃😃😃. They took us to a place with lots of swimming pools and I could see my friends and others swimming especially those 100-level students as I was in my final year.
I looked at them as they were having fun and wished I could just swim like them. The way they were all having fun renewed my interest and I promised myself I would learn how to swim even if I had to pay an instructor. I told some of my classmates and some of the guys overheard me and suddenly decided they were interested in teaching me. I paid no heed to them as we were there for a few hours so I didn't think I could learn within that time plus I didn't want to allow my fellow male coursemates to "tap current".
When we got back, I looked for a center close to my place that had a swimming pool and paid an instructor there, and within a space of some weeks, I began to get the hang of it. I wouldn't say I am a pro in swimming but I know my way around some basic swimming.
I could remember about two years ago when my friends had to drag me out for some fun time and I was glad they did. The place had a swimming pool and for the first time in the midst of crowds, I was also able to show my little swimming skills 😃😃😃😃.
I am glad I was able to learn it and that further motivated me to try new things. If I fail at first, no worries, I know that in time I will achieve my aim.
Thank you all for reading.