Everyone has pushed themselves to do more, to do better. Because you think, no, you know you can. So you push yourself. It’s new. Different. A change.  Swimming is one of those life skills you are taught young, like riding a bike or tying your shoes. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it’s downright scary. But it's exciting. Who doesn’t want to try it? What else is there to do on a hot summer day? 

I started swimming lessons at a swim school when I was around five years old.  The swim instructors gave me and the group of kids also taking lessons with me these ancient-looking styrofoam swim rafts. You know those blue rafts. They smell like old chlorine and they are rough, faded and falling apart from spending too much time in the pool. They remind me of when I am in the water too long and my fingers and toes start to look like raisins. We had to use these stinky, blue rafts to swim out into the deeper water where we couldn’t touch. Once you were in the deep water, you had to get these small plastic toy boats that were halfway underwater anyway because they wouldn’t stay upright and then swim back to the shallow end with one.  Now I don’t know if I was just being really stubborn because I didn’t want to be there or if I was petrified to go out into the deeper water, but whatever it was, I wasn’t swimming out into the deep end to get those stupid toy boats. I didn’t want one anyway. I have always been good at swimming. Even at the age of five, I could swim without the help of a life jacket or swimmies. I remember there being this one other kid who I think was scared of the deep area of the pool. He clung to that blue raft so tight that his knuckles turned white, and he just stared ahead blankly, hoping that he could get out of the pool. A few times, we exchanged a glance at each other.

The swimming lessons were terrible! They were not fun for me at all since I refused to participate. The time seemed to drag on forever. I could feel myself turning into a prune as I just sat there pouting and soaking in the over-chlorinated pool water. Each day, for a week, I returned to the same pool, at the same time with the same group of kids and just either sat on the side of the pool with my arms crossed and my teeth chattering or floated with my upper body on that scratchy blue raft as my legs dangled behind me in the cold, clear pool water. Even though it was the middle of summer it wasn’t like a summer should be like: hot, sticky, humid. Even if you don’t know how to swim, you just need to jump in a pool because you know it is going to be refreshing and cool you off. Nope. Not this summer. Or at least the week of my swim lessons. That week was miserable. Rainy, cold and dreary.  It wasn’t even hot out, and the sun hid behind the clouds all week. And the worst part of it all? The water. The water was so cold, all you had to do was stick your one big toe in and you instantly had goosebumps. At one point, I clearly remember, it was lunchtime, and I was so relieved that I could finally take a break and get out of the icy water. I was happy to be able to warm up and go sit with my parents. I almost didn’t hear my name being called. Everyone else eagerly and hurriedly got out of the pool. But for me and the other scared kid, we stood there shivering as the instructor told us when we had to come back and that we were not leaving the pool for lunch until we got the toy boats back to “shore,” as if this was a beach!

Later in the swim lessons, the instructors told my parents that I most likely wasn’t going to pass and I would not be receiving a swimming certificate if I didn’t prove to them that I could indeed swim, and not just in shallow water. I had to show them I could swim underwater in the deep end! The instructors had observed that I wasn’t a qualified swimmer and therefore I should only be allowed to swim in water no deeper than my ankles or worse, the kiddy pool! 

On the final day of swim class, we all had to be tested on our swimming abilities to see if we would get a certificate. The main part of the test was to jump off of a diving board into the deep water, swim underwater for a few seconds and swim to the side of the pool to the ladder. Of course, this was the worst weather day of the week. Not only was it cool out, but it was also pouring rain. All I had to do was walk to that diving board, hold my nose and jump in. Do you think that I could? Sure I could. Do you think that I did? I sure did! It took me a while, but with a little extra encouragement from my mom and a nudge from my dad, I jumped off that diving board with such enthusiasm; the instructors were in such shock and were so surprised.  If only I could have seen the look on their faces; my parents told me later it was priceless. And yes, I walked away with that certificate. I also walked away with a big toothy smile and an I-told-you-I-could-swim look on my face. The instructors still wanted me to come back for some additional lessons so I could be qualified as actually able to swim. My parents said they would think about it.

Ultimately, I did not redo the lessons. My parents thought I had had enough.  After all that, I became a pretty good swimmer. I was able to swim underwater for more than a few seconds, and I didn’t even have to plug my nose.  I even helped my little sister learn how to swim. Each year I become a better and stronger swimmer. 

Sometimes the fear inside you becomes so overwhelming that you close up tight like a clam and you tune out what is happening around you, waiting for the moment it will go away and end. But the real fear is of yourself. Of not taking that next step even though you know you can. The fear of thinking you are going to fail or get it wrong and not being able to make it right. You always need to push yourself harder and keep trying. In the end, you will surprise yourself with how you overcome your fears, and after that, well, then you know you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

-David