Tuesday July 14, 2009
Notes on an adversary (and a photography challenge)
I am not, and never have been, a water person. I can swim well enough to not drown but not well enough to engage in anything that can be marked by laps. Luckily, this was not much of a problem growing up rather far away from any coast line.
I moved to England more than ten years ago now, and we do not need to start discussing just how old that may make me. In terms of geography, the big shift was less about mileage and more about living just a short walk from the beach (as well as my sudden discovery of hills, but that is a tale for another day). You have to understand that if I call Brighton Beach the beach, I cannot really be a water person, because swimming in the channel is not really something that many people do past a quick wade in. And that may have been on a dare.
There have been times when I’ve thought of myself as completely fearful of large bodies of water like swimming pools and oceans. I will do anything possible to take the tunnel rather than the ferry to cross the channel. And yet, there has been something intriguing there, like the rhythm of the waves hitting the rocks were water’s way of laughing ever so slightly and saying ‘Really, you’re making a big fuss of nothing.’ So on our trip to Hawaii, I talked myself out of this conflict and figured it was about time I discovered for real if I really should be terrified of the sea, or just respect it.
I want to record this honestly: kayaking in the open water pretty much freaked me out and there’s no way to put that feeling in pretty terms. But I did not fall out, panic or cause a big problem (other than being slightly useless at paddling but hey – one thing at a time). There were occasions in which I chickened out of things. But there were occasions in which I was swimming along and realised there just happened to be sea turtles on either side of me. I’m also pretty sure that one of my snorkeling scrapes is going to be at least a semi-permanent reminder that the current is certainly stronger than I am.
But sometimes there are little things we do in life that feel like really big personal victories. For me, this was one of them.
What you may find more interesting is the photography challenge I’m hosting at Two Peas this week — it’s all about photographing water.
Personal victories not required.
But seriously: do you have a little thing that gets the better of you? I’d love to hear about the sorts of things we go about beating from day to day. Just something on the brain recently, I think.
xlovesx
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14 July 2009, 21:31
love the waterfall. driving gets the better of me…no good in a country with pants public transport outside of a city!
however, was forced into the car after working one night shift…the bloke reckoned that the best time to get me behind the wheel as people watchingand too shocked to protest and it worked. I am now getting the better of it…slowly lol
Incidentally, u have just given me a great mini book idea after reading ur water story…cheers…from fear to free lol
14 July 2009, 22:21
while i once could swim quite well (grew up on a tropical island, etc. etc.) i suspect i’m much closer to your level of swimming ability now.
reading your blog post reminded me of a sign i saw when i went to fiji in 2004 with some classmates. we went whitewater rafting, and on the way back to the cabin i saw a sign that said something like “you leave a part of you in the river. you take a part of the river with you. and both you and the river are forever changed.”
14 July 2009, 23:24
Well I love water falls and watching the waves crash against the rocks. Key word there is “WATCHING” I am deathly afraid of any kind of water, lake, stream, ocean, pool. I almost drowned when I was in high school and that did it foe me
14 July 2009, 23:53
I am proud of you! (and due to winning sneak preview tickets to HP, am already back to reading your blog)
15 July 2009, 01:54
I much more naturally a water person than you, but kayaking in open ocean (north Pacific) FREAKED me out. Add in the dinner-plate-sized jelly fish and arm-diameter seaweed floating in the inlet with us and that was the biggest nightmare of the honeymoon.
According to my better half I “lose my shit” on winding roads with steep drop offs.
15 July 2009, 07:41
I come across as very extrovert and brave, possibly even outrageous. But the truth is so much scares me, more than anyone will ever know. I’ve learnt to live by the moto ‘feal the fear, and do it anyway’.
Ok, but the enormous flying insect my kittens brought me in the other night, and I mean huge, yeah, well, I wussed out of that one.
17 July 2009, 13:02
Well, gee – I am longing for the ocean right now. Our 25th anniversary trip to Hawaii planned for June was – well, cancelled when my husband passed away unexpectedly on May 30 – that’s what I’m beating every day…I barely got done with the cancer…and the rug got pulled out from under my family – again, only in a much more permanent way.
k8
24 July 2009, 09:09
Math. I had a dreadful maths teacher that ridiculed me in front of the class, and for the last 15 years I have to mentally fight to do anything beyond very basic math.
Not life-threatening, but not good for the self-esteem.