swimming Archives - Alyssa Day

On setbacks…

June 18, 2017 by Alyssa Day 2 Comments

You may have seen that I just learned to swim 2 weeks ago, after 40 years of being terrified of water. (dad/lake/near drowning).

I was moving right along, swimming more and more laps, until today. Today, swimming alone, I inhaled some water & was right back there. Three or four years old and drowning, almost forgotten by my stupid father & his drunk friends.

Today I flashed back to that & almost cried. So, gulping air and hyperventilating, I made it to the end of the lane and clung for dear life. It was the deep end, naturally. But I used Lamaze breathing until I calmed down.

I DID IT!!! I LEARNED TO SWIM!!!!

May 27, 2017 by Alyssa Day Leave a Comment

If you’ve been following my terror/learn to swim saga on my FB page, there’s the video proof that TODAY I DID IT!!!! Check it out HERE!!! And here’s the rest of the story…

Thank you EVERYBODY for the cheers on me learning how to swim today!!

As you might imagine from the victory videos, there was more to the story…

First, I was scared to death. I actually felt sick driving to the pool. There are now fingernail marks in Judd’s arm.

When we got there I almost didn’t get in the pool. I was so scared I was hyperventilating a little bit. When we did get in there, a kid splashed me and I got water up my nose & almost cried. (My dad nearly drowned me when I was a kid & I’ve been terrified ever since.)

Navy Guy had to keep reminding me I was IN A POOL. And that it was only 4′ deep (I’m 6′ tall). But when I couldn’t figure out which way was up (I kept closing my eyes), I was terrified.

Also, my lungs did not want to let me breathe out underwater.

Because my lungs said: YOU ARE UNDERFUCKINGWATER, OKAY?? HOLD ONTO THAT AIR!!!!

So I almost drowned again (except for the being in a pool part, and for a very patient Navy Guy right there next to me, but it could have happened. If anybody could figure out how to screw something up, we all know it would be me…)

BUT I persevered!!! I breathed underwater (mostly out; breathing IN underwater=BAD, I learned this today). I swam a breast stroke & a frog kick thing & even ON MY BACK. I swam LIKE A BOSS.

I am so proud of myself that I burst into tears in the shower. All those years of terror…DONE. I am brave. I GOT this.

Please, PLEASE be brave with me. Find something that has always scared you and find a way to face it. Let’s kick fear’s ASS. Tell me about it & I’ll cheer the loudest for you. ‘Cause I’m a SWIMMER, y’all. I’m on your side all the way.

xoxoxoxxo

Alyssa

OUTSIDE OF NORMAL, BUT BRAVE AF!

May 22, 2017 by Alyssa Day 2 Comments

Okay, in spite of a crippling fear of water, thanks to my Dad’s throwing me in a lake to ‘teach me how to swim’ when I was a kid (I did not learn; I did not float; I kept plummeting to the bottom…), I’m finally FINALLY going to learn to swim. Because it’s my year of COURAGE and I’m going to be brave as fuck.

Just called and set up the lessons for June 12-23 and I’m hyperventilating just from the phone call (with the “head of aquatics” who sounded 12), but here we go.

On courage and learning to swim…

May 10, 2017 by Alyssa Day Leave a Comment

Conquering fear…

One of the worst things about depression is that it makes us afraid. Afraid of stepping outside our comfort zone, afraid of trying new things, afraid of stepping into the world and experiencing it fully–with adventures and anticipation and joy.

So today I’m going to begin to tackle one of my lifelong fears: I don’t know how to swim, because I’m afraid of the water. Wow. That is so embarrassing to admit, especially since we always live near the ocean. But my horrible father did the “throw her in the deep end–of a LAKE–and she’ll figure out how to swim” thing when I was really small, and I nearly drowned. He kept thinking I’d pop up.