I still can’t float: a story of learning to swim as an adult
Learning to swim seems a natural rite of childhood for most kids. Some of us, however, leave our teenage days behind lacking this skill and have to face the daunting prospect of learning to swim as an adult. This is the story of how I overcame my fear of the water and taught myself to swim at 22 years old.
In the beginning
Apparently, there was a time as a very young child when I was perfectly happy in water and I could swim about as well as any normal five-year old can. I do not remember this.
My blissful introduction to learning to swim was swiftly curtailed by a series of ear operations that required a ban on all water-related activities for about five years. My understanding of this as a child was that if water got into my ears it would flood my brain, like a big deadly pool inside my head. I’m not so sure this is accurate, but it made perfect sense to me as a kid so I resolutely defended my ears from anything that could get water into them.
Teenage struggles
This, sadly, was the easy part. With my ear operations complete, I attempted a seamless transition back into the world of swimming. Things did not go to plan, as I quickly stumbled upon two significant problems:
- I had lost all…
