Facing Your Fears

First and foremost, lakes/large bodies of water kind of terrify me. I think it's mainly because I'm worried that something such as a giant shark or something will eat me, but it's also just the whole open water thing in general. I can't even touch the bottom of a lake without freaking out over the sand. Also, I'm always scared that while I'm swimming, my foot will touch something, whether it be a sunken boat, a branch, or simply a piece of seaweed.

I don't know where these fears originated (although it most likely involves my grandpa making up stories about lake creatures and the fact that sunken ships in general are terrifying), but I can tell you real quick that they're highly annoying. But, thanks to Google, after a quick search, I found out that I'm not the only one with this strange fear. In fact, it's actually pretty common. It's actually a classified phobia: Thalassophobia- the fear of the sea.

That brings me to the title of this post. This weekend, we're up at a nice lake, and yesterday I decided to face my fears in swim in it. I wasn't going to spend four to five hours in a car ride and just swim in the pool, I want to swim in the lake. I decided to just jump in, figuratively and literally. It was freezing (yet refreshing) and terrifying, but I can say that I did it, and I actually had fun. I just didn't touch the bottom or look down, but I don't do that in pools either, so it's all good. At the lake, there's a dock that's floating out in the water, probably 150 feet out(but don't quote me on that I have no idea), and it's attached to the ground so it stays. It's at least 30-40 feet to the bottom already at the dock, so it's highly terrifying to swim out to it. But yesterday, within an hour of arriving here, my family and I swam out to the lake. I did it. It was awful and my heart was beating a thousand miles an hour, but I did it, and it felt nice doing it. Will I do it again? Probably not, but maybe.

After swimming out there, the lake did become a bit more fun. I swam in it all day yesterday, staying mostly in the area by our condo thing we're in, but that still got to at least 10 feet deep. I can't tell if the fact that this lake is super clear so you can see the bottom, even out by the dock, helps or not, but it's better than not being able to see the bottom so I guess it helps a little.

Although it's terrifying at the time, facing your fears can be super rewarding. And it allows you to feel like a badass for a bit, so that's another plus. I think I'm going to swim for a little bit now, but I just thought I'd update you. Go do something that scares you.

~Maddison