5 life lessons I've learned from swimming (1)

This post is inspired by 5 life lessons I've learned from running.

If you don't try, you will definitely drown.

And if you do, you have a chance of survival. Most of us in Singapore grow up with us taking compulsory swimming lessons in school. I guess that's a good survival skill. I passed the beginner course with ease, but failed my immediate due to another human fault. But that didn't hinder me from swimming. Immediate course was to master "frog-style" and now I already did, I even invented "doggy-style" where you swim with the head above the waters. That said, it leads to the second lesson (below).

Don't let a failure set you back from achieving your goal.

Sometimes you have to drown to conquer that fear you have.

Exactly. I almost drowned once, not in the pool but in the sea (in Thailand). I always had this phobia of not being able to touch the ground with my feet. But this is exactly it, I can never touch the bottom of the ground in some situations. I have to learn to accept or overcome it. Of course, I have never thought about using drowning to conquer that fear, it was a freak incident. After that, surprisingly it did not deter me from swimming. I continued to swim in the pool (though usually those I can have my feet on the ground). More recently, I found myself conquering a new territory - swimming in the lap pool! To me, that's an achievement.

Stamina comes with practicing.

Like everything else in life, you usually get better and better by practicing. When I went back to the pool after months or even a year of not swimming, the first few half-laps left me panting like a dog. I used to have swim dates with a friend,  it's a great motivation to have a sports buddy. But since she left for the States, I found my new friend (discipline). It's not as bad really. I have began to set myself a time frame to finish a certain number of laps. I began with 6 laps, then increased to 8, 10, 12 and occasionally 14 (all these in a few months)! 12 laps' pretty good for me since it's doubled of what I had started with.

Learn to enjoy it.

If you are passionate about something, you usually don't find it a chore. Doing it will help you relax. The best things about it - it keeps you active, clears your mind, relieves stress and also helps you to lose those extra kilos. In fact, I have shed a few and it does make me feel better about myself.