I'm 27 years old and very afraid of water but I've decided I want to finally get over that fear and learn how to swim. My only previous experience of being in the water was five afternoon swimming lessons through school when I was 11, couple of trips to the lake where I waded in up to my chest and stood around and 2 aquafit classes when I was 24. I recently signed up for lessons at the YMCA that are once a week for an hour, plus I usually go to the pool for a couple of hours on weekends. I've taken 6 weeks of lessons now and I've improved a lot but in some ways I feel like I haven't improved enough. I used to be afraid to even put my face in the water and after about 10 hours of pool time I finally figured out how to blow bubbles out my nose. I still haven't figured out how to blow bubbles out my mouth without inhaling water and I don't feel like I can blow bubbles or hold my breath long enough to even do a short front glide. I'm still afraid to even do a back or front float without assistance of some sort because I'm worried about my head going under. I've bought some nose plugs, but none of them seem to work very well for me. I've figured out how to tread water but of course I'm only comfortable doing that because my feet aren't far from the bottom and my head isn't underwater. I'm getting frustrated because I'm the only one in my adult class who seems to be afraid of the water to such a large degree. I've signed up for an additional set of lessons to the ones I'm taking now, but I'm worried that I'm not going to improve significantly because of my fear. My fiancee's sister is a lifeguard and she says I could be swimming laps by next summer but I'm not so sure. I know a child who isn't afraid can learn quickly but I'm not so sure about myself. I was hoping that someone here might have some advice or encouragement on how I can become more comfortable in the water and give me some idea of how long it should take an afraid adult to learn how to swim. Thanks.
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waves101-I like your breathing exercise idea and I'm going to practice it.
bbpolhill-Your story is really inspiring. I'm not sure if I'll make that much progress but I'm hoping that eventually I'll be able to swim laps although I know it's going to take a long time.
laineybug-I've blown out my mouth at the surface but I find it still doesn't work so well under the surface. I'm thinking I might just stick to blowing out my nose anyway since I'm less apt to get water up my nose that way.
FindingMyInnerFish-I've started going into the deep end sometimes with either a life jacket or belt. I'm still not comfortable jumping in but I have done lots of laps either with the flutter board or on my back with a life jacket.
dorianblade-It's nice to see someone else who's as much of a beginner as I am.
Muppet-I bought goggles when I started going to the pool and I love them, but I think I need to get better ones because the ones I have now tend to fog up a lot, especially when I'm kicking a lot and warmed up.
Nathan-Stories like yours give me hope that I will be able to do this.
I've now taken 8 lessons at the YMCA and 3 at another pool. As I mentioned before, I'm not sure if I want to continue on with the second set of lessons. The lessons at the non-Y pool end this week, so I'll decide then whether I want to continue or only take lessons at the Y from now on. The instructor of the lessons at the second pool said that this coming week we'll be treading water in the deep end which doesn't worry me so much if I can ease myself in and then tread. I'm worried that she's going to ask us to jump in and tread (which I guess would simulate accidentally falling into the pool and needing to save ourselves) and that I won't be able to do it without panicking. I've sat or knelt at the edge and jumped in and I don't like the moment of impact because I find I tend to get water up my nose and sometimes in my goggles too. I've probably spent about 30 hours in the pool now of class time and my own time. My treading is pretty good now and this week I finally tried kicking on my front for a few feet and recovering on my own without any aids. I find that sometimes I'm really relaxed and sometimes I'm panicky and that it goes back and forth.
waves101-I like your breathing exercise idea and I'm going to practice it.
bbpolhill-Your story is really inspiring. I'm not sure if I'll make that much progress but I'm hoping that eventually I'll be able to swim laps although I know it's going to take a long time.
laineybug-I've blown out my mouth at the surface but I find it still doesn't work so well under the surface. I'm thinking I might just stick to blowing out my nose anyway since I'm less apt to get water up my nose that way.
FindingMyInnerFish-I've started going into the deep end sometimes with either a life jacket or belt. I'm still not comfortable jumping in but I have done lots of laps either with the flutter board or on my back with a life jacket.
dorianblade-It's nice to see someone else who's as much of a beginner as I am.
Muppet-I bought goggles when I started going to the pool and I love them, but I think I need to get better ones because the ones I have now tend to fog up a lot, especially when I'm kicking a lot and warmed up.
Nathan-Stories like yours give me hope that I will be able to do this.
I've now taken 8 lessons at the YMCA and 3 at another pool. As I mentioned before, I'm not sure if I want to continue on with the second set of lessons. The lessons at the non-Y pool end this week, so I'll decide then whether I want to continue or only take lessons at the Y from now on. The instructor of the lessons at the second pool said that this coming week we'll be treading water in the deep end which doesn't worry me so much if I can ease myself in and then tread. I'm worried that she's going to ask us to jump in and tread (which I guess would simulate accidentally falling into the pool and needing to save ourselves) and that I won't be able to do it without panicking. I've sat or knelt at the edge and jumped in and I don't like the moment of impact because I find I tend to get water up my nose and sometimes in my goggles too. I've probably spent about 30 hours in the pool now of class time and my own time. My treading is pretty good now and this week I finally tried kicking on my front for a few feet and recovering on my own without any aids. I find that sometimes I'm really relaxed and sometimes I'm panicky and that it goes back and forth.
