Spice of Life: Learning to beat the deep, ready to swim the length

Growing up in the 1980s meant a major part of our summer vacations were spent with a handful of cousins at my paternal grandparents’ house in Chandigarh, or we would all be sent off to the army station where my fauji dad was posted. Either way, the afternoons would be spent swimming at the pool in the club or at the sports centre.

Now, I really enjoyed the time we spent together, except the part where I was ordered by the coach to swim a length. The thought of putting my head underwater would send chills down the spine and I would look with such longing at the other children who would shuttle between the two ends of the pool with such ease and grace. My fear stemmed from watching sequels of the movie, Jaws, which were based on killer sharks and unsuspecting people venturing into water bodies. No amount of threatening, coaxing or bribing could get me to swim with my head underwater. And, a childhood was spent with me enjoying our swimming afternoons emulating a frog.

Cut to my 30s, where I was raising boys of my own and a part of my parental duty was getting them to learn life skills, which included swimming. Luckily, they both did not exhibit any fear of water or resistance to learn the sport. In routine, I would get into the pool and wade about in the shallow end, to be able to keep an eye on my children. This was going on smoothly until my younger offspring insisted I swim a length with him. Putting on my brave Mama face, I proceeded to do something that resembled the actions of a toad and a drowning walrus. The embarrassed expressions my children shot me nudged me to face my fear and I gingerly approached the swimming coach to give me a few lessons.

The first step was to counsel myself that no underwater creature was going to attack me. I needed to be rational if I ever wanted to be taken effectively as the voice of reason for my children to beat their own fears. Within a couple of weeks, I was able to master the proper method of swimming various forms with relative ease and began tackling the width of the pool in the shallow end.

The coach now urged me to venture into the deep to complete a length. The mere thought of being in an expanse of water with my feet not being able to touch the ground got me panicky. What if I can’t complete a length and get tired? Won’t I drown? What if I lose my concentration and break the flow of the stroke? But, with my sons and nieces watching, I couldn’t let my ridiculous fear get the better of me.

So, I began telling myself, “You can beat the deep.” It made no sense grammatically, but with each stroke, I kept repeating in my mind, I can beat the deep. And, I did.

The loud cheers from my enthusiastic audience made me feel as though I had conquered the English Channel.

Now I easily swim length after length and anytime I feel it’s getting too exhausting to go further, I stop at the edge, take a break, catch my breath and restart when I’m ready.

We all have our ‘deeps’ in life, they seem daunting and we feel small and helpless in front of them. The lesson to learn is, tell yourself with utmost conviction, ‘I can beat the deep’ and chances are you will.

a.jasveen@gmail.com

(The writer is a freelance contributor)