New Resolution: Learn To Swim

Okay, I admit it: I can't swim. Never could. Oh, the shame!

But not anymore, I've decided along with all my other life changing resolutions this year, I'm going to learn how to swim.

For years I've been pretty embarrassed about not being able to swim and bearing with the taunts from my sisters about how I can't swim properly. But this year, I thought "I can't swim, I know I can't swim, I should just admit it, stop being embarrassed because that's not going to make me any more able to swim and just learn how to swim properly." Thanks to Sae as well because hearing how she's been swimming regularly at her club somewhat inspired me to want to do that too. Lately, I've been skipping and running more as well and discovering the limitations of my joints, especially my right knee and ankle that went through fairly bad injuries last year. I don't want to injure myself further but I want to be able to increase my cardio as well. Swimming was really the only thing I could think of that would get me exercising without over-exhausting my joints.

When I was little, my parents sent me to swimming classes. I'm guessing I must have been 4 years old because it was in State which is near our house and we only moved there when I was about 4 years old. It was called Atlantis and these days instead of swimming pools, there's a huge building that looks like a Chinese style gravestone except that its white.

I don't really remember anything about these lessons but I remember getting my head pushed in and held down by the instructor (I don't even remember the instructor, but it must have been the instructor) in order to teach me how to breathe. I remember struggling a bit to come up because I didn't actually inhale enough air. (Its possible that I wasn't listening to what the lesson was actually about or what I was supposed to be doing...) But of course I couldn't because of the instructor's hand on my head. And I remember swallowing a whole lot of water and water going up my nose. Well, those classes didn't last very long at all.

Of course, I didn't drown and nothing bad happened to me at all I'm sure. I do remember that I had asthma at around the same time as most kids do and had to go through a lot of X-rays and doctor visits and what not. And somehow I think in my brain, I fused asthma and swimming together.

I love being in the pool and playing around but the moment I reach an area where I know my feet can't touch the ground or my head is under the water without me having gulped big lungfuls of air in preparation, I start to tense up. The moment I swallow a bit of pool water, the same thing happens and I just feeling out of breathe and gasping for air. I know of course that I won't drown and I don't actually think I feel scared or anything but somehow that's just what my body does.

Well, in my effort to get over it, I've started taking private swimming lessons at Melbourne City Baths. Its going really well and I've learnt how to do the freestyle stroke. I've also gained quite a lot of confidence in being in the water and breathing. From now on, it'll just be a matter of practice and practice and persevering through it and trying to change my frame of mind about being underwater. I'm glad I've decided to go for lessons because now I know for sure I'm learning the proper techniques while getting over this psychological state of mind.

I'm quite excited about working through it and hopefully soon, swimming will just be as natural to me as walking. And maybe I can go swimming with Sae as well when I go home.