“THE OLDEST and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”
I’m not quite sure who it was who wrote that or when they wrote it, but by God they were on the money with that line.
I can’t swim, but I’ve figured across the last four Thursday night that I don’t have the phobia of the water that I imagined I’d have.
That was the first box to tick on week 1 of my learn-to-swim challenge, which is actually, believe it or not (oddly I’m in the not category more often!), progressing quite well.
What do you do with a group of seven people who haven’t quite mastered the art of swimming yet, just after the midway point of their course?
Apparently, you throw them in at the deep end.
Literally.
Yep, throw them in at the deep end.
Well, not quite.
Make them jump in at the deep end then to put it more accurately.
[adrotate group=”37″]It’s quite daunting this one. The unknown makes it so.
We’re becoming more comfortable in our surroundings, even if this writer does take some extra persuasion, but this is new territory. There is nothing beneath us now. Only water, water and more water!
But we can swim now, surely? Well, we’re getting there. I figure we must be doing something right as eight of us stand staring aimlessly and some of us hopelessly into the watery abyss below us.
You’ll recall from the previous editions of this diary about the struggles with breathing.
They’re not quite eradicated just yet, but these little breaks away from the actual swimming are all about confidence-building.
Five weeks ago if you’d told me I’d go near the deep end of this place, I’d have laughed. That in itself is progress, isn’t it?
Week 5 ends with us all in the deep end and making our way, aided at that, back towards the more modest depths of the shallow end.
To get there is like manna from heaven.
Up to that, this week’s lesson was just about trying to perfect the technique again.
I won’t lie, it’s not getting much easier, but it is getting easier with repetition.
Out and in we go, like lost ducks around a pond. Up and down. Try and breathe. Ear in the water. Breath.
Before this week’s lesson I did an hour in the gym with my PT, Charlie Webb. Charlie’s always a good sounding board for these things.
[adrotate group=”37″]And while the hour of arm work hardly helped with already-knackered arms getting to work in the pool, the talk about the swimming, the challenge, the aims and the set-backs certainly helped.
Progress comes slowly and Daniel, our instructor, appears happy with how and where we are. That said, his coaxing of me into the deep end (‘just pretend you’re jumping on my head’) sounds rather tempting! All the same!
The deep end was all about the unknown. Previously, being able to stand, touching the floor with the head firmly above water was a fine safety net.
Now that that’s removed, it’s an entirely different matter, but it sort of makes you appreciate progress
The aim, I suppose, is that we’ll be confident enough – and good enough! – to swim a length whilst he floor at the deep end has been lowered.
You’ll recall in week 1 I had the stated aim – is that called speaking too soon?! – of being able to swim a full length of the Aura Leisure Centre’s pool by the end of week 8.
That’s still the goal.
Before next week’s lesson I’ve to spend a night in Dublin. I do think I’ll be checking into a hotel that has a swimming pool.
And, before you ask, Janice is STILL on about that video not being posted.
“We’re doing it next week,” she grins.
I’m still clinging to that hope that week 8’s clip will have the whole group swimming and they all lived happily ever after. Clinging to that hope as much as I’d cling on for dear life in the deep end…
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