Climbing Personal Hills a.k.a. Learning New Things

I have read and written a lot about trying new things and not being afraid of making mistakes, particularly about calling them guesstimations instead of errors. However, practising it is very hard! 

I had wanted to learn a life skill—swimming—and soon realized I had not just one or two voices in my head, but an entire orchestra. One irritating voice went, ‘I do not like breathing under water, I am scared of water, I just want to give up’. 

Another one would pipe up, ‘It’s all in your head. Don’t give up’. Of course a third one would add in, ‘A lot you know! It is raining, the water seems freezing and I do not like gulping down water when I try to take a breath’. 

Not to be deterred another one would chime in, ‘How does anyone keep track of everything? How one's hands should move and one's legs. How to breathe in through the nose and breathe out of the mouth. How straight one's back needs to be while also keeping track of when to turn one's head to gasp in much-needed air without also breathing in water through the nose? Oof!’ 

And so the voices would go on and on and on while a random thought would blithely intrude, 'How does an octopus keep track of all its tentacles?' *eye-roll*

Jokes aside, I learnt it is very easy to give up, especially when you are stepping out of your comfort zone. It is very easy to come up with a dozen excuses about why you should not do something. But my coach was bang on with his advice. 

He said it is about focus and concentration. You ignore the irritating voices that discourage you and try to pull you down, and you practise on concentrating on the one tiny encouraging voice that tells you to forget all else and focus on your breathing.

I won’t say I love swimming but I stuck on and did learn to swim (okay, just barely :P) but it was much better than just giving up and thinking, ‘I am not up to this challenge’. 

The feeling of conquering my fears and learning to swim even in the shallow end of the pool was unbeatable. There is a very special joy when you have managed to climb your own personal hill. J

<a href='https://www.freepik.com/vectors/design'>Design vector created by user2104819 - www.freepik.com</a>