See adult. See adult swim. Or not.
Saturday was my 8th and last 30-minute lesson at Murray Callan Swim School, one of the top rated swim schools in San Diego. Sure, it’s a kids school with Disney characters all on the walls (actually eerily close to my own Elementary School experience!) and little kids screaming and running around naked, but a skill is a skill, right? My instructor certainly made me feel at ease and taught me some basic breathing techniques and how to position my arms, but was I able to fend for my life in a deep end if I had to? Definitely not. Feeling a little disappointed and frustrated with my progress, I was of course prompted to Google how long the average adult needs instruction to learn how to swim. According to Google’s top response (from Jim Montgomery Swim School), it takes an adult with no fear of water 20 hours to learn how to comfortably swim 25 yards. *doing the math 8 x 0.5 = 4* Hooray! I don’t suck at life after all!
I’m sure it varies by individual but this is certainly not the first time I’ve attempted to swim. Hell, I passed a swimming test for scuba diving certification! This was however, the first time I’ve been formally trained by a professional. By lesson #6, my dream of swimming laps in the pool quickly faded and the reality of seeing 2 year olds swim better than me sunk in faster than a wet speedo wedgie. What’s worse is I can’t even sign up for a second round of lessons if I even wanted to! Unfortunately, by the time I realized I needed more time, Murray Callan was full yet again. I couldn’t believe it. 7 months of being on a wait list to get my first set of lessons and here I was back on it again.
Knowing though that I am only 25% of the way there makes me feel a whole lot better. Not sure why I thought I’d be making major strides (har har har) by the end of this. I think I just wanted it so badly and figured I’d have it down by simply signing up with a pro and dedicating time and energy to it, forgetting that a skill truly requires practice. LOTS of it. In fact, those 2 year olds are at the swim school sometimes twice a day, 4 times a week.
I think if anything, this experience continues to humble me in life. It reminds me that simply going through the motions doesn’t automatically make you good at something (in fact, it takes 10,000 hours to truly master a subject, according to Malcolm Gladwell). Passing a course or even getting certified is really just the beginning with a whole lot more of failing coming your way.
A panel speaker at a women’s tech event once said: the problem with women is that we always want to be 100% good at something and if we aren’t, we are more likely to quit at it than a male would. But what we fail to realize is that for every 75% or even 50% we get, we are learning more than the person who stopped at achieving 80% just once.
I think once you come to terms with knowing where you stand and keeping that eye on the prize, progress and success are bound to happen. I know this isn’t rocket science but sometimes, it’s just too easy to compare yourself to someone else in the room and feel inadequate. So, here’s to plenty more hours of sinking before swimming!
