I never fully learned how to swim as a kid. I'm sure I could do something, but I didn't feel like I could say I knew how to swim. I held onto that belief as a kid, teenager, and then adult. I didn't believe that I could swim. If anything, I also started holding onto the idea that I didn't like water. I was afraid of drowning. Let's be honest, drowning does sound freaky. There's something about my lungs filling up with water that terrifies me.
Anyways, I didn't swim, I couldn't swim, and so I avoided it. That inability to swim always bothered me, but I felt that it was too late to learn, so whatever. I think as I teenager I started to believe that it was too late for me, and that seemed right at the time, so I held on to that idea. That is a stupid mindset if you were wondering. It's stupid to think we're ever too old to learn anything new.
I knew immediately when I started creating my 40 goals that learning to swim would be one of them. I've had quite a few goals that have shifted and changed, but that one never did. I knew it was time to learn and to let go of this crazy idea that I was too old.
So, I learned to swim. The biggest barrier for me was being willing to look like a beginner. I thought that everyone in the pool probably stopped to watch me make a fool of myself while I kinda swam. Most likely, no one looked at me twice. They didn't care what the 30-something-year-old lady was doing. Not really. It was this fear of being a beginner that held me back all these years. I was scared of people noticing and watching me learn.
Once I started embracing that, I was able to make some progress. I joined a gym for a different goal, and the gym had a pool. That really opened up my opportunity to practice. I had to face more internal barriers, like going to the pool by myself. Something I never would have done at any point in my life, but if I wanted to learn how to swim, I couldn't sit around waiting for Matt to be available.
Going to the pool by myself was intimidating, but once again, it was just a thought that people would judge me. I had to accept that people might judge me, but I probably wouldn't know. I decided that my goal was to be able to do three laps doing a freestyle swim. I still struggle with breathing, and I often practice with a snorkel to work on what my body is doing and getting that down, but I can swim 3 laps. Actually, I can swim more than 3 laps. It's pretty cool.
What I learned is that I actually like to swim a lot. I would have totally missed out on something I enjoyed if I hadn't challenged the idea that I couldn't learn how to swim. I love doing it for exercise. I am excited when I go. I've got more progress to achieve, but I'm really happy with where I am now. I'm so glad I decided to try. I wish I could tell my teenager self to not worry so much about being a beginner and giving it a shot. It actually feels really good to learn new things regardless of age.
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