Life Lessons from Swim Lessons

1. I will not die when my head goes under the water. And, even more, I won’t die if I breathe out my nose.

2. Mike might have had my best interests in mind when he asked me, frequently, over the course of the last…oh, 5 years, to take swim lessons. Swim lessons can actually be beneficial.

3. Lots of other people don’t know how to swim. I was initially embarrassed to tell anyone about my lessons, and I might have put it off for so long because of my pride. But really, so many people had a positive, truly inquisitive response to my telling them. Everyone should take swim lessons! 

4. Being wet in the middle of October isn’t fun. I would much rather have NOT put it off so I wasn’t going to swim lessons when it’s below 50 outside. Oh, and the room the pool was in had a giant glass wall that let out the heat and the rec center said it was “too early” in the season to turn on the heaters. Brrr!

5. Sleep is a most wonderful, necessary thing. Swim lessons that start every day at 9 pm, go till 10, meaning I get home at 10:30 and to bed no earlier than 11…then wake up at 5:30…not fun. By Friday, you could say I was tired.

6. The changes I saw: I don’t look like I’m drowning when I’m trying to move through the water. I can spend quality time under the water, making my body more streamline. I don’t tire out from moving five feet because I can use an efficient swim stroke. I don’t have to pause to breathe out of the water (even though I still am not as graceful at that as Michael Phelps). I learned the free stroke and the backstroke.

 

7. Swimming is a really good workout. But your hair doesn’t like it every night for a week.                                                                                                                                                                                            

8. A Master’s Program wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world and might be in my future.