I fear the water

[CheshireCrab]

To be more precise, I'm afraid of swimming in the water.

 

I don't know how long I've had this fear or even where it stems from. It may have been from my earliest memory of when I nearly drowned in a lake. It may have been when I was younger and got freaked out by those cheesy Sci-Fi movies about the giant man-eating alligator. It could have been a number of things, but for most of my life it hasn't been a hindrance. I'm usually swimming with someone else nearby, so I'm able to keep these fears in the back of my head.

 

That was until yesterday, when I went to go swimming in Lake Nakomi. Once a week the Park and Recreation board opens up the lake for lap swimmers. Swimming there and back, it's about 1200 yards(.75 miles). Last week I swam on a sunny day filled with a lot of other lap swimmers. I was keeping pace with a couple of the swimmers and found myself not having any fear of the water. Recently, that wasn't the case. The weather was cloudy making the lake pretty barren.

 

Half-way through my swim I started getting tense, I feared something was going to come up from behind me and get me. I tried to focus on swimming towards the giant orange buoy marked as the half way point and thought "When I get there I'll be safe". That didn't help. I then tried to focus on my technique but every stroke reminded me that if there was some monster in the water, I was not going to be fast enough to out swim it.

 

I got to the other side of the lake and swam to the shallow end. I waited for another swimmer to reach the turnaround point and went to swim pace with them. After a few minutes I looked up and couldn't see any signs of the swimmer. I felt completely alone in that water and I started to become incredibly afraid. Every improbable scenario I could think of, every horror film I watched about underwater creatures just flooded my mind and I had to turn around.

I didn't complete a full lap around the lake because I was too afraid to be in that water. I know this is an irrational fear, but it's starting to affect my goals for swimming. I want to build up to swimming longer distances in open water and I can't do that with this mental obstacle in the way. Does anyone have advice on how I can overcome this fear?

[Raincloak]

Keep swimming.  You are right to not play in open water alone, as that is unsafe, but not because some imaginary lake monster is waiting to get you.  It's just cause open water has a few hidden quirks which can turn dangerous on short notice and someone should be there to keep an eye on you.  But the only way to overcome a fear is to keep facing it.  You know how to swim, so as long as the water is a safe temperature and there are other people watching, you should be just fine.  Nothing's gonna bite you.  There probably aren't even fish in that lake big enough to nip your toes.

 

Perhaps you could sign up for some triathlons or swim races.  Those are full of other people, so you won't be alone, and they even have rescuers in boats hanging around just in case you feel the need to cling to something solid for a bit (this will not get you disqualified).

 

Are you uncomfortable being in any open space alone, or is it just water?

[CheshireCrab]

14 hours ago, Raincloak said:

Keep swimming.  You are right to not play in open water alone, as that is unsafe, but not because some imaginary lake monster is waiting to get you.  It's just cause open water has a few hidden quirks which can turn dangerous on short notice and someone should be there to keep an eye on you.  But the only way to overcome a fear is to keep facing it.  You know how to swim, so as long as the water is a safe temperature and there are other people watching, you should be just fine.  Nothing's gonna bite you.  There probably aren't even fish in that lake big enough to nip your toes.

 

Perhaps you could sign up for some triathlons or swim races.  Those are full of other people, so you won't be alone, and they even have rescuers in boats hanging around just in case you feel the need to cling to something solid for a bit (this will not get you disqualified).

 

Are you uncomfortable being in any open space alone, or is it just water?

Just the water. I actually did do a triathlon recently and experienced that fear pretty dang often, but found it was only when I couldn't see any other swimmers around. When I was able to see a swimmer close by I was not feeling that anxiety.

[Xena]

Could you get a friend to swim with you?

Are you less nervous when you can keep your head above water (using a kickboard or doing a modified breaststroke)?

Are you less nervous if you could see well (using a mask and snorkel rather than goggles)?

Maybe try some kind of simple mantra? Something to repeat in your mind that makes you feel safe and strong?

[Elastigirl]

I think the biggest thing is to just keep at it. I'm just now trying to get used to lake swimming. It freaks me out that you can't see what's in the water too. Another thought related to fear is instead of fighting it , is to embrace it, but to change your mindset a bit. Tell yourself, Yeah I feel  that adrenaline that lets me know I'm alive, I'm pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Think how great a feeling it is to feel that way and be able to fight that and keep going. Also instead of telling yourself you're scared, tell yourself that you are excited.

[CheshireCrab]

22 hours ago, Xena said:

Could you get a friend to swim with you?

Are you less nervous when you can keep your head above water (using a kickboard or doing a modified breaststroke)?

Are you less nervous if you could see well (using a mask and snorkel rather than goggles)?

Maybe try some kind of simple mantra? Something to repeat in your mind that makes you feel safe and strong?

 

I don't really have too many swimmer friends out there. Found that even with my head above the water(Using a modified freestyle stroke) the fear is still there. I recently went casually swimming in Devil's Lake where the water was extremely clear (Could see the sand 7-feet below me), but still developed those same anxieties when I was away from people.

I think I am going to try that Mantra thing next swimming session and see if that helps.

 

20 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

I think the biggest thing is to just keep at it. I'm just now trying to get used to lake swimming. It freaks me out that you can't see what's in the water too. Another thought related to fear is instead of fighting it , is to embrace it, but to change your mindset a bit. Tell yourself, Yeah I feel  that adrenaline that lets me know I'm alive, I'm pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Think how great a feeling it is to feel that way and be able to fight that and keep going. Also instead of telling yourself you're scared, tell yourself that you are excited.

 

I like the idea of changing my mindset a bit, I'm going to try to adopt both your guys ideas and hope my next Lake swimming session goes well

[CallunaTook]

Do you have the same problem in swimming pools, or is it only lakes? If it's only lakes, then it's more like fear of lake, rather than fear of water, right? So maybe you could approach it that way. 

 

I am uncomfortable with water in general, but love lakes. I am not a strong swimmer, but I actually LOVE swimming in natural bodies of water; I think swimming in pools is boring. I think this is because I started swimming in them because I am a science nerd, basically. I had a number of field classes involving aquatic biology and ecology over the course of many years, and was always stomping through streams and creeks and ponds to study them. This morphed eventually into swimming in lakes for fun. So I love them BECAUSE I know what is in them and how they work. I love thinking about the fishes swimming beneath my toes, the different layers of water and muck, and the diversity of insects on the shore. I actually get delighted if a fish nibbles my toes (it does not hurt at all, by the way) and I like to feel the different terrain under my feet. If it's a fear of the unknown and what might be down there, maybe a crash course or some self study in lake biology might help? 

 

As for me, I have a mild fear of water, but I know it's because I'm not great at swimming, I don't enjoy it as an exercise enough to practice it and improve, and I once had a scary asthma attack in the middle of a lake in deep water. But I usually push against all that a few times a year for the privilege of feeling muddy lake bottoms with my toes and the delight of swimming with invisible fish that might bump up against me. I admit that I usually don't go too deep though, because... I am a little bit of a wimp, too. ;-) 

[Raincloak]

Some people worry when they can't see the bottom of what they're swimming in.  I never understood why, because a swimming human floats to the top of the water.  If the water's too deep to stand up in, then for practical purposes the depth doesn't really matter.  It could be 8 ft deep or 800 ft.  You're going to float on top of it either way. 

 

Water is cool like that.  Provided you're in the right position and sucking air, it will always push you up.  In fact, to swim most efficiently, you need to lean your weight into your chest, which is where the air is.