Learning to Swim
One woman overcame her fear and opened herself up to a sea of opportunity
How one woman dived in and overcame her fear of water
I grew up terrified of water. I never learned to swim; my parents didn’t encourage me or my two older sisters to try. Because my mom had never learned to swim and had developed a fear of water, she passed on her anxiety to us. She was afraid we might drown, so she kept us away from water. Even though I grew up in Toronto, with Lake Ontario at my doorstep, I never went near the lake.
As a child, I missed out on many experiences because of my fear. I stayed home while my friends went swimming. I didn’t feel like I fit in. When I became an adult, it was just something I accepted. Then one day, while working out at the YMCA, I saw a flyer advertising an eight-week class for adults who wanted to learn to swim. At 32 years old, it seemed like it was a good time for me to address this lifelong fear.
I signed up but was dreading my first lesson. I was really unsure about how things would go. Oh my God, I thought, do I really have to go? What was I thinking? Thankfully, the instructor was kind and softspoken. She didn’t push me. “Take one step at a time,” she told the class. “Go at your own pace.”
My class was small – just four women, all of whom were just as nervous as I was. We were about the same age, and it was comforting to know that we were all in the same boat. We each had something to prove and fears to overcome.
At that first lesson, we started by sitting around the pool, then dangling our legs in the water until we felt comfortable. Slowly, we got into the pool. Even just walking in the shallow end was a challenge. I didn’t feel at ease.
But by the time I was halfway through the course, I realized I no longer felt fearful. Here I was, in the water, moving, kicking, walking and splashing. I was having fun. I no longer felt anxious before class, but rather looked forward to each lesson. By the end of the course, I was happily floating around the pool on my back, relaxed and thinking to myself, This isn’t bad at all.
The sense of accomplishment was huge for me. I felt much more confident, not just in the water but out of it as well. If I could conquer my fear of water, I could do anything. Since completing the course, I don’t think twice about being near water. I have gone on a canoe trip through Algonquin Park, something I never would have done before. And a few years ago, while on vacation, I swam in the Red Sea, off the coast of Egypt. Being in such a massive body of water was another step forward for me. I used to think that I would be swallowed up by the enormity of the sea. The mere thought of going in would have filled me with dread. But there I was, playing in the waves with my friends and having the experience of a lifetime.
Looking back, I’m so glad I had the courage to learn to swim. I’m now 48 years old and the mother of two girls, Giselle, 8, and Genevieve, 10. I enrolled them in swimming lessons when they were four years old, and they continue their lessons every summer. I don’t want them to miss out on the things I did.