I didn't have swim class last week due to a holiday but I did today. My swim instructor got a concussion while swimming apparently so a substitute came in. The sub gave me so much confidence. To begin, they told us to dunk ourselves underwater. Then they were like "wait don't forget to breathe out your nose." Whoops, but when I did it again later, it felt way better.
Now usually, when we practice floating, the instructor sort of holds onto us and lets go, but the sub didn't do that. Instead, they encouraged us to just go for it, and we did, and like that, we floated. Insane. Now I'm certain I can float. What! To be fair, I think I was able to do it because I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on floating so I just played back what I learned in my head, and did that.
We also worked on flutter kicks and it was quite fun. I'm pretty terrible on my back though because my legs keep sinking. The sub had a very hands-off approach but was happy to demonstrate. They also kept reminding us to breathe through our nose, something I kept forgetting. So we kicked off the wall and flutter kicked our way for a short distance the best we could. The feeling of moving through the water... just fantastic.
Also, somehow I've become the funny one in my class. Not sure how that happened. I think I can pinpoint it to me cheering everyone on and asking silly questions. To me, I know everyone's uncomfortable so I'm trying to make it less tense. Let's remember to have fun. A classmate told me how they spent a year deciding whether or not to take on swimming, and I told them I only spent a week to decide. I told them from my perspective, I wouldn't know where I'd be in a year and would actually regret it if I pushed it off, so that's how I made my decision.
After class, I asked the sub if 100m freestyle in a year is a realistic goal. They said easy yes. Then I asked what about the butterfly. Perhaps not! We all agreed it's super difficult but stunning to watch, so I will be adding that to my goals. One of my classmates also came up to me and told me they were scared of the water, and I told them not to worry since I used to be the same. Where is this confidence coming from?! In my mind, I've accepted that the water is there and I should just flow with it instead of fighting it.
Being in the water feels so therapeutic. It's like the water washes everything away. I guess it's the endorphin, something I recently learned about.
Finally, one of my friends said I inspired them to swim again, but in my head I've been thinking "I've barely done anything yet". They then went to their local pool and started swimming at 6am. Okay that's inspiring to me.
I feel like a whole new person right now and I want to keep this feeling forever.
