How I Went From Being Afraid of the Sea to Becoming an Open-Water Swimmer

Here I am standing on a podium, holding my trophy of first in my age group (50-59) women for a 2km Aquaman Malta race looking really happy and confident. It happened yesterday and I am still in shock about it. Why you may ask? Well here are the reasons..

1. This was my second open water race in my life
2. The first was three weeks ago
3. I had a phobia of swimming in the open sea

From the time I was young, I swam in the pool in Canada and only when I came to Malta on holiday did I dip my toes in the sea. As a kid I was adventurous and loved to snokel but with time too many shark films left an impression on me. I ventured less in deeper sea water...my imagination would get to me. Going to the beach as an adult consisted of just dipping myself and suntaning. Going to the pool, on the other hand, when I was young meant swimming in the deep end on my father's insistence and as a teenager, being part of a swim team... doing laps and races in the pool. When I left Canada as a 16 year old, my training as a swimmer stopped and I focused on music. I put away my swim cap and only occasionally swam laps on my own but the magic was gone. 

A year and a half ago, my husband signed me up to  Masters Swimming lessons. It was twice a week and it reminded me of the good old days with my high school coach pushing us to be better.  I intended to be consistent with it as I learned to be with music and last April continued to three times a week. My Masters coach mentioned that in each session we covered about 2.5 km...so why not try a 2km Open Water swim? I believed that since I was consistent with my training then why not? 

So everytime my family went to the beach, I brought my tow buoy and tried to see how far I would go. I followed the buoys of the swimming area and would alternate strokes till I gained confident. It is kind of like learning a new piece of music...you don't play the whole piece in one go...you practice bar by bar, everyday until it becomes second nature.  Bit by bit my confidence grew and I immersed myself in Open water swimming videos to learn as much as I could and then apply my knowledge at the sea. I kept consistent with my Masters classes and on my first open water swim, went with my coach and team members...my only objective to just finish 2km. Just finish with a participants medal and that would be enough proof I did it so I could celebrate and eat Chinese food...that would be enough. And I did it! Then that same evening after the race, I signed up for 2km Aquaman Malta to reinforce it because if I did it once, I could do it again, collect my participation medal and call myself "Aquagirl". 

Now during this process I did say to myself "Why do I do this to myself? Why can't I just be normal?".  That was my old version of myself trying to fight change. In order to create we must push ourselves to look beyond...whether that be in performing a new piece of music, swimming in open water races or any new venture in our life. It may be scary and hard but that is what living is about. Yesterday was proof that had I let my fear get to me, I would have lost this great opportunity.

I am so glad I was brave enough to sign up for Aquaman Malta...I would not have discovered this side of myself. Be brave and take each challenge one step at a time.

Verso l'alto,

Connie