More layers of confidence

I thought that I was more confident about swimming then I really was! Last week I got to a whole new layer of fear. My challenge was to propel myself straight down to the bottom and then pop up. I forgot to mention the hard part-letting go of the side of the pool. 

Well, let me say that this was the first time is many weeks that my swim coach had to get in. Ultimately, he had to push me down and gradually we got further away from the side. By the end I was even swimming (a combo of flailing and swimming) to get to the side of the pool after I popped up. I had definitely gained more confidence and was less fearful by the end of the lesson.

It's not enough to be able to just get through, which I know see is what I was doing. I was just doing the back stroke from the deep end to the shallow end, but really I was trying to get out of the deep water as soon as  I could! To be a confident swimmer I need to be really comfortable in the deep water, and to be confident at anything you need to get from the out of comfort to the comfort zone. It doesn't work to do it half way. And it is only by doing it (in my case, with the support of a coach) that we discover all that must be done to get there.