“Help!, I said H E L P!!!!” after going down in the water for the third time. Fear of drowning in the water started during my childhood after going on a fishing trip with my family. Leaning over the side of a pier trying to retrieve a crab from my net, I fell into the cold ocean waters causing sheer pandemonium for me, but not so much for my sister.
Struggling to survive, occasionally pushing my head above the water, I could see my older sister laughing with tears coming out of her eyes. Although, my father quickly retrieved me from the water, in my mind it felt as if I had been under for hours.
Fast forward to over 50 years of wanting to learn to swim, but gripped by fear, I decided to overcome my fear after my daughter built a swimming pool where I could practice privately.
Mimicking the modern day generation, I went to YouTube to find some videos on how to swim. When my daughter saw that I was serious and really wanted to overcome my fear, she also took the time to help me and gave me some pointers.
Excited that I learned to swim at almost 65 years of age, I did what any respectable drama queen would do, I started singing to dramatically express my happiness and success.
Reminder, we are never too old to overcome our fears!