Being outside my comfort zone has never felt better!
"It's 3 AM! Wakey-wakey Archie...", this is what I have been telling myself since the beginning of this year. Consistently! Why? Read on to follow through my story, despite me not being a morning person...
Swimming was something I wanted to learn because of my fascination with surfing. Since the recent days, we see surfing gaining traction in the coastal parts of the nation. As someone who kept up with the trends on the IG, there has never been a day when I didn't think about cutting through the waves. But you see, I can't swim! And swimming is part of the basics. How could I dream of surfing without knowing how to swim?! So, I took up swimming lessons.
There are many lessons that I learnt during this process which relates with the challenges that we face in life:
LESSON 1: Training the outside is a spark-plug, training the inside takes effort! REAL EFFORT.
Firstly, staying afloat or covering that 10 m distance felt daunting on me. There were days when I was fighting with the water. I had to first get used to the feel of it. Trust me, I have completed 3 months of being in the water, yet, there are days when I forget how to feel around it.
The greatest advice that my coach ever told me was, "Architha, I can help you train twice as many times. I could teach you the strokes, the techniques and everything... but, unless you train your mind, swimming will always remain difficult".
LESSON 2: Going out of your 'comfort zone' will never be comfortable. But, you have to do it to level up!
You see it happened exactly how my coach described, swimming the first 10 m was tricky, then moving to the deep side of the pool was unrealistic. Then covering my first 25 m felt extremely lucky. The first 50 m, was difficult. And then I did my first 100 m. You see, every time there was this transition, it was uncomfortable to the extent where I had episodes of drowning, sinking, drinking from the pool's water, headaches, sleepless nights, low energy and everything. But another piece of advice: It's not supposed to be easy. But the important fact is that you are present. Practicing! Everyday! Pushing yourself to do better! To keep that positive energy where you tell yourself, 'It's alright! I'm sure you will do better. This was only your first try!'
I always wondered, how is it that a blind can see the world as easily as a person with the gift of sight. It's all about familiarity, the comfort of your surroundings.
In spite of not being able to see the water world and the heaviness I used to experience in my eye for the rest of the day; I had become so accustomed to swimming without goggles that it felt scary to swim with them goggles on. The first few days felt so uncomfortable that I would remove my goggles to swim. So things are supposed to be unfamiliar and it's alright, for I know you will learn.
Just be consistent!
LESSON 3: People matter! Trust, hope and you...
I admit, believing in yourself is the best gift you could ever gift you. You need that kind of self-belief to trust in other people, who will trust in you. It's very simple! Let me explain: Remember the story of the tooth-fairy who was able to survive because of that one child's faith in her. Because she believed that there is at least one child, who bury that tooth. Find people; a strong support system, even if it is just one person who will trust you.
To me, I could swim because I had my coach always telling me :" You will learn. I know! You can do it." And that I have to calm my mind and ease into the process. To not think! To just let it be. To have fun. To not worry about not being able to do it. To learn and continuously upgrade. I was also gifted with a strong community (my co-swimmers) who encouraged me to always push through.
So, about why you started reading through my post- to answer why I always wake up at 3 AM, I guess I really just want to learn to swim.
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