Conquering Fear in the Water 🏊

 Today, I felt amazing.💓For the past few days, I've been practicing swimming. I've wanted to learn and master this life-saving skill for a long time. It's a lifelong ability that's always useful. I find it fascinating to watch people swim effortlessly because, while it looks easy, it actually requires a lot of strength and stamina. This strength makes them appear as though they are simply floating on water. I want to feel like a mermaid, as my partner says. 🧿

Yesterday, I was struggling with the technique, which requires coordination between your hands, legs, and breathing. Everything needs to be in balance. If even a single stroke or breath is missed, you can lose coordination and balance, which might cause you to start sinking. After completing a round with hand support, my trainer insisted I try without it, but I wasn’t sure how to maintain balance if I lost my breath. I took a deep breath and started swimming. Initially, I was fine, but since I wasn’t breathing continuously, I became exhausted and lost my balance, starting to sink. Thankfully, I was near the edge and grabbed it, feeling completely frightened. After taking breaks in between rounds, I didn’t feel ready to go again without support, so I got out of the pool, having lost my confidence.

This morning, out of fear, I refused to go back to the pool, but my partner encouraged me, saying all I needed was a little faith. He told me to push my hands downward to push the water below my waist and try dog paddling. With a heavy heart and full of fear, I went back. I started with hand support and completed four rounds. After that, I knew the trainer would ask me to go without support, and sure enough, he did. Without overthinking, I took a deep breath and started swimming. It went well for a few strokes, but then I lost my balance again while breathing. It might have looked clumsy, but I had to maintain control because I was in the middle of the pool. As soon as I lost balance, I started dog paddling and realized I wasn’t sinking this time! I was surprised that, without being taught, I managed to stay afloat in the middle of the pool. I took a few breaths and started swimming again.💪

I repeated this two or three more times and felt happy, knowing I wouldn’t drown and could save myself. I’m confident that one day, I will master this beautiful, life-saving skill. I'll succeed with flying colors and, finally, feel like a mermaid. Sometimes, even the smallest steps make us feel like we’ve done something amazing. That’s how we overcome our fears—the fear of failure, of losing balance, and of sinking. It’s always the little techniques that work and save us, just like a Mermaid. 🐬