Conquer Your Fears!
It is never too late to conquer your fear!
My fear has been the water. I’d keep it safe, swimming laps in a swimming pool, doing breaststroke, but I never got in the sea. I put swimming freestyle as ‘for other people’. Including 3 younger siblings who seemed to be water babies.
On approaching 40, and having lived by the ocean for 5 years (I know!) I decided to challenge myself - I was going to learn to swim, properly. I got in touch with a local swimming instructor, Linda Goodwin.
Linda is nothing short of a legend. She not only taught me to swim, she dismantled my fears and helped see what was holding me back - IT WAS CURABLE!
Linda says “The ocean is my happy place, my therapy, I can’t live without it now”.
Linda Goodwin is a Brit living in Sydney, Australia. She was a graphic designer who spent time in the ocean in her spare time. Until Covid hit, work dried up, and she looked at what else she was good at - swimming.
“I never saw myself as a teacher but aged 42 became one, and never looked back. I absolutely love it. Helping people who never thought they’d be able do it, it is so rewarding”.
The thing is Linda is simply brilliant at it, for many this fear of water is a psychological block they don’t think they can break. I had had a terrifying experience in a swimming pool in Spain aged 5, and had never been comfortable in the water. Linda worked with me for months, and when I swam that first length of the ocean pool I felt this electrifying feeling. I felt invincible. I was delighted.
Linda talks about the main things adult learners need to think.
DON’T CARE ABOUT LOOKING STUPID
“Some people are more willing to look stupid than others, unless you’re me! I refuse to grow! up” says Linda. By reminding people no one cares, not least her, how stupid they look, the biggest barrier to learning a new skill is removed.
PLAY LIKE A KID and have fun with it
“We stop having fun as adults, we care too much what people think of us. The first thing I say is you have to play, you have to be able to have fun here”. And Linda certainly got me acting like a child with instructions such as “pretend you have Spaghetti arms” or the most memorable line “Hannah! Stay strong in the middle, like you’re a kebab, but twist your hips, like you’re a mermaid. Be a Mermaid Kebab!”.
START SLOWLY the process can be gradual
“I had a 54 year old man who had been put off going into the water since being thrown in aged 4 by his uncle! So we started at his ankles going in, and then going to the knees. We slowly progressed from there. 2 years down the track he is ocean swimming. Everyone has their own timeframe.”
RELAX don’t use your energy on worry
You need to develop the ability to relax. You can’t play any sport tense, can’t even ride a bike tense, need the natural ability to flow. Swimming is juts relaxing to me as I know how to move in the water.
Everyone wants to do it now, do it right, want to get it all right. Lose the ability to flew and move naturally. N
If you consider someone is watching you and you’re ‘not doing it right’ you won’t really learn, you need to forget what anyone else is doing.
You’re doing this for no one other than you, relax, enjoy it. Courage and empowered and released pressure.
My Driving Force
“No marriage no kids, it’s epic! Marriage doesn’t interest me, my partner and I have been together 27 years”
Linda met her beau aged 20 on a girls holiday. After moving in together and working for a few years, they realised they wanted a life with more adventure. What followed was a year backpacking Australia, a stint back at home, and then a year in NZ. Australia eventually became home.
“I am a worker ant, I work every day! Mornings before and afternoons after school, middle of the day, people working from home, the days are pretty busy”
“I am naturally a shy person, hr is the one backing me up, he says you can get out in front of people you can do this!”.
Free Diving
Linda’s latest adventure has been Free Diving. This means diving in one breath. Her maximum depth is 12 metres “Once your down there, stopped all the splashing the fish come to you, they swim around you, intrigued by you, want to be around you, its out of this world”.
Again, it is a case of calming the mind, conquering fears through mastering the mind. “One breath dive. More meditation, close your mind off, control your breath, be able to relax, can’t use energy up by being worried”
“Yoga, just sitting there, doesn’t do it for me, but I visualise going down on the dive. I see the rope, I imagine each metre and how it feels. It is a style of meditation that keeps me calm and in control as I do the dive”
We can all do it!
To push past a fear is the greatest accomplishment. It could be anything. My advice is enlist a coach, a teacher.. Their patience, wisdom and expertise will get you there..
“Now Mermaid Kebab, we just have to get you surfing” says Linda with a big grin on her face.
