Another from the archives of last summer:
Okay, so this week was
the second swim lesson...
Becca and I arrived at
the pool first, and I discovered that the secret to having her be comfortable
in the water was to distract her: Mama, don't let go! I need to hold your
thumbs! I don't wanna swim yet... hey, you have a fish on your
vest. (and now she's fine...)
She swam in circles
for a while and I tried to trust my swim vest, but it wasn't comfortable yet,
and I didn't feel safe, so I waited until my teacher showed up. His
answer was to review, because I still wasn't comfortable with having my head
underwater (ahem... DUH). So, while Becca swam in circles and the pool
attendant played with his phone and ignored us, I tried holding my nose while
ducking under this time.
Nope, that wasn't
enough, but I wasn't gonna try just once. After all, I did it three times
last week. Okaaaaaaaaay.
Becca continued to be
encouraging, showing me her 'reach and pull' that Daddy taught her, then
running back to the wall. I asked her to come back out, and she spun in
circles some more. Wheeee. Yeah, yeah, he told me to quit watching
her and try going under again.
Distraction.
What can I do to take my mind off imminent death when I go under? Well,
my uncle suggested hypnosis being like meditation, and that involves concentrating
on breathing. Hmm, can't breathe underwater. Wait, I can breathe
out. So, I took a few breaths and counted carefully how long it took to
breathe out nice and evenly. Then the fourth time, I ducked my head under
and breathed out underwater.
I found I breathed out
a little faster underwater, but I was still counting, and I recovered a lot
faster once I came up. Still a yucky feeling, but less fear. I am
making progress. And my thoughtful instructor tried to encourage me by finding
a couple of strokes I can learn which can be done with the face OUT of the
water. Frogs swim with a sort of breast stroke, and Becca likes swimming
like a froggy (not sure she has the frog kick quite yet, but she's making
progress too).
So then I put the vest
back on, and found to my irritation that I tend to tip over when I pick my feet
up. Now I know why she swims in circles. It helps you stay
upright. So I suppose I made only a little progress, but I can also say
I've had no trouble at all putting my face fully under the water in the shower
the past week, which I also used to have incredible trouble with, so things are
moving forward overall.
On a side note, the
next time I see the pool attendant, he's gonna have some explaining to do about
choosing to post on Facebook about a grown woman who is lame enough to need a
life vest in the pool and stating he'd be happy to text anyone the pictures...
especially if those pictures have Becca in them. You're playing with
fire, Woody.
Just sayin'.
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