Looking at the huge pool in front I asked the trainer timidly 'I would not have forgotten how to float - right ?' - She smiled and said 'No you will float , just enter water ' :)
Well learning swimming at the age of 37 was definitely a challenge and an achievement for me :) And am glad for myself that i did it though late but better than never ! The last time i had entered a swimming pool was sometime in 2002 in our corporate office's pool which was pretty small and i was kind of ok to try learning swimming, but then i could do that only during weekends and the office was far .... But after 13 years of not even seeing a decent pool, when i got opportunity to learn swimming again and this time in a huge Olympics standard swimming pool ... I was nervous ... I was scared ... will i be able to learn ?
Many people think and have asked me , if I was learning swimming to loose weight - yes I am 15kgs over weight , an i am a regular walker and was into sports and yoga (which i am not now) People ask the same thing when they see me cycling - my answer is 'No' , I am not cycling or learning swimming to shed weight , though i would be too happy if i shed some weight , but i am doing these activities, because these things i never learned as a child, I learned Cycling on my own around 8 yrs back , and swimming 2 months back -- and the reason for learning and doing both is because i feel it is Must learn skills in life. Infact I enrolled for swimming class along with my daughter who can swim pretty decently now.
The reason to enroll along with daughter was that Esther (my daughter) was not too keen to learn, basically she was scared of water, i know even i am scared of pool/water , so instead of pushing her to learn swimming, i told her that even i am not very comfortable at the idea of learing swimming, but i will also learn , but i told her that we wont be in same batch - since in the pool the instructors feel its better that parents are not around while the child learns ... she agreed to that ...
My first week was great since i had idea how to float, i could pick up things pretty well , but then moving both hands and legs and breathing simultaneously was a big challenge ! Anyway long story short I learned swimming in 3-4 weeks time, but i still cannot float on my back ! I just cannot relax in water, there still is block , I still struggle doing sculling which is the lifesaving skill ...,
After 1 month of initial training, and after watching my daughter and her batch mates diving at the deep end, somehow i got the courage to dive at the deep end with them and swim , i still cannot do sculling , and i must thank all the children who gave me tips, encouraged me and allowed me to jump along with them during their training session - tolerated me , took me as one of them, asking me which school i had studied, and if I am scared, when i said i am scared they did all the triks in water to show me its ok ... It was actually fun learning with them , and ofcourse all 4 trainers who are epitome of patience :)
Now i can go on writing long stories of what i saw and learnt in swimming pool seeing others experience , but today i saw this movie Blue Crush, about a girl surfer, who overcomes her fears and comes back as a winner in a professional surfing competition .. .. And all i have to say is its never too late to overcome your fears (any sort) and to learn what you think you cannot learn .... give it a chance, overcome your inhibitions .... nothing is too difficult :)
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