Water around Ankles
Many a time, I have sat on the sills
of a swimming pool with my legs dipped in it. I have always loved water and wanted to know the feeling of floating freely, but
was too scared to go in. All I dared to go was ankle deep. Aqua phobia was the greatest of my
fears!
The fear was so grave
that no provocations or temptations persuaded me to even give a thought towards
overcoming it. At times, the frustration would reach a peak and I would think
of getting rid of the fear only to give up again in the last minute.
The most unnerving thing
about these fears is that they grow with you. I had started thinking that I am
going to die by sinking in ice cold water (after reading one of the Dan Brown’s
novelsJ ). There comes a point where they
start restricting you.
As
you get older, you try and rationalize its existence. I used to think; swimming
as a skill, if not mastered will not stop you from anything in Life as in if
you didn’t know driving, it might act as a hindrance. Swimming was not such a
skill and hence can be done without.
And then came that day. My friend Bibin and I were sitting on the rails
of a bridge across a small stream in our home town. That was our evening hangout
place. He looked at the water ablaze with the setting sun’s golden rays and
asked “Shall we start taking swimming lessons?”. I replied yes without thinking for I knew if I
thought for even a fleeting second, I would change my mind.
It took me a great effort to
convince myself and drag myself to that pool. I was petrified and I still
remember the feel of cold water around my ankles when I first stepped in.
Fighting my mind and the new by lanes
of fear that it opened up every moment, I forced myself to learn. To say it was
tough would be a gross understatement. After all, I was trying to tame a fear that was
quarter of a century old.
One fine day, I could float in the water and could
cover some distance all by myself. I remember raising my head from water and
smiling –a wide contented grinJ.
The next day, I dived in to the pool
and swam across it! Words fail me when I try to describe that feeling. I haven’t
felt more liberated in my life than I did at that moment. It was like I was chained in a dark
cellar for long and one fine morning, I am gifted free will!
If at all you are a prisoner to any
sort of fear, embrace it ! The choice is yours- to float around freely in
the vastness of fearlessness or to confine yourself to ankle deep water!
Arun
Babu.
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