Have you ever been afraid to swim?
I was terrified of swimming.
Like most things that we fear intensely, there is typically some form of trauma attached to the fear. When I was a teenager, I went to Rouge Park swimming pool. Like everybody else present, I was having fun until someone got the bright idea to toss me into the deep end of the pool.
I could not swim!
I felt like I was drowning! Suddenly, someone pulled me out of the water. The guy that threw me into the water apologized stating that he thought I could swim. However, my ears hit the mute button with regards to his excuses for throwing me in the water. Immediately, I screamed at him until I got tired. I was so mad that I wanted to fight that guy, but one of my friends helped me to calm down.
From that day forward, I was terrified of swimming, but I loved to relax by water. I loved the water so much, that I would take my nieces, nephews and God-children to waterparks and watch them enjoy the water. Consistently, I said things like "Be careful. Don't go to far. Stay close to the edge of the pool etc". One day, my nephew desired to learn how to swim so that he could play with my other nephews that knew how to swim, but because of how I would yell whenever he moved away from me to a space that I could not personally get to him, he started to be afraid of the water, even when my sister - who was a great swimmer - would say to him "Just relax. I have you."
In that moment, I noticed that I was passing down my unhealed trauma to him. I realized that I needed to do something about this fear of swimming. Like a determined investigator, I researched places that offered swimming lessons and signed up for the lessons. During my first day of training, I told my instructor that I was terrified of swimming because I almost drowned. I also told him that I was there to learn because I wanted to help my nephew not be afraid of the water. One of the first things that the instructor said to me was that he was always with me and he would not let anything happen to me. The first task he gave me was to put my head under the water and hold my breath for as longs as I could hold it. With my feet securely on the pool floor, I did pretty decent with this task; however, when he was teaching me how to float backwards, I failed miserably!
Not being able to see where I was going, feel my feet on the pool floor etc triggered me to consistently attempt to catch myself. Each time I attempted to control where I floated to etc, I would began to sink. It wasn't until I completely surrendered to the act of floating and allowed the water to carry me while I looked up, that I actually floated from one end of the pool to the other without sinking.
The next time I took my nieces, nephews and God-children to the waterpark, I encouraged my nephew to allow my sister to teach him and I got in the water with him. He branched out and continued to practice until he eventually learned how to swim. We celebrated his accomplishment. I could not help but to notice that when I made up my mind to overcome fear, that also freed those I love from it. Somethings should not be passed down; but aggressively annihilated.
Today, I encourage you to fully trust God by floating in Him. Keep your head positioned in such a way that your eyes are constantly looking up. Learning how to float in God will cause a domino affect on your life and those attached to you. Embrace the royal you by floating today and see greater results in your life and those attached to you. It's time to float.
#royalclarityview #floatinGod #relaxinwater #pooldays
