Are you embarrassed at the thought of trying to swim?

I have always wanted to swim. I used to look at the swimming on TV and I was in the water with them. I couldn't understand why I couldn't swim. I took swimming lessons when I was much older, after making a definite decision to do it!

I did not have a 1-1 in a private pool but was part of a group. This was not a satisfying way to learn because no one was at the same stage.

I was given a float and told to kick my legs that were deep in the water. Boy! that was hard to do! I was done in by the time we finished.

I was asked to push of in the shallow end and lasted 2 seconds in the water and panicked! I felt awful, but this was my time to learn and I was not going to be put off.

Because I was not working at the time, I was able to get to the pool every day in-between my swimming lessons. I must have looked an idiot, all by myself trying to get into the water and stopping every few feet. I would never go out of my depth and always clung to the side, but little by little I made progress. My progress was not the right sort, I was to discover this later. I had swimming lessons for about 6 months and was able to get my head in the water for breast stroke. Do you think I could move? No way! Try as I might, all I did was move inch by inch and spent time looking at people chatting away to each other swimming length after length zooming up the pool. I just couldn't understand it! What was I doing wrong?

Later I was able to venture into the deep end. I was so scared my heart was thumping away. I can't explain what I thought was going to happen there, all I knew was that the deep end meant I was going to drown.

Well, here I am now, not embarrassed while people are in the pool because I am in there with them and am a very proficient swimmer, also teaching people how to swim.

It didn't take long to perfect my swimming techniques. In fact after learning how to swim the correct way, 3 months later I swam a mile doing the front crawl and not even out of breath.

If you would like to know how I did this, feel free to email Irene