My new mantra = Keep Showing Up 🙂

I’ve been in a pause in my swimming lessons and pool access due to my husband having a seizure a couple of weeks ago, which has me doing all of the driving. I had been going to the public pool on the weekends for extra practice, but those closed at the beginning of September, so I’m going to have to get creative. Anyway, after a lull, I had to accompany said husband on a work trip, and I insisted we stay at a hotel with an indoor pool. I am pleased to report that after a few tries floating from the steps, I was eventually able to go the width of the pool, which was a little more than a body length, go into a float toward the steps, and get down without touching anything with my hands. This is huge progress from where I started. HUGE. And I want to pause for a brief celebration before continuing… [Pause for celebration] When I tried to do the same maneuver toward the wall, I freaked out a little, so I stopped trying to force that and went back to repeating what was comfortable. There’s something psychological that my brain likes about the security of being able to put my hands down on the steps if I need to, I guess? I’m not sure how to overcome that, other than practice, but the pools I have access to don’t have steps. They’re all competition pools for swimming teams. And the water is about a foot deeper than what I was in at the hotel, which also spikes a little fear. I’m trying not to put a damper on my progress while worrying about the next step, but I am not sure when and how I’m going to be able to continue until my husband gets cleared to drive, so I’m frustrated and sad. Thanks for reading my rambling report.

I finished my swim lessons and tried swimming laps for the first time ever. You have to schedule the lanes and I didn't know what number was what, but when I got to the pool I told the lifeguard that it was my first time swimming laps or ever swimming in the deep end and I wanted to be next to the wall... just in case. He kindly switched me to the correct lane and ... I did it! Now I know that I can do it! I get tired really quickly because the breathing thing is hard for me when swimming freestyle. I will continue to work on that, but I am really proud after being afraid to be in water over my head for years. I am grateful for the lessons I learned from you about getting acclimated to water and swimming underwater. Also the lessons about how to breathe before even getting into the water. I believe that both those lessons helped me tremendously. The lessons they give at the Y are good but I guess they have to push everyone to the next step quickly just by the nature of things. Thank you Coach Jeff and Coach Meredith.

Thanks to your tutorial about front floating I was able to feel completely comfortable and joyous when I started floating like a star. This was the first time I experienced the joy of being carried by the water.

My body - she is wise ☺️