I know how to swim. I do. But not very efficiently, and while I'm confident I could keep myself from drowning if it came down to it, in the end I am not very comfortable in the water. Something about going underwater and feeling it pressing in on me makes me very claustrophobic.
A few weekends ago, we went to Fujairah to spend the day at the beach with friends. One of the attractions on offer there was snorkeling. I knew I wouldn't like snorkeling. It combined all the terror of being underwater with it all pressing down on me with the awkward inconvenience of not being able to breathe through my nose, which only compounded my fear of the water. I was absolutely planning on "oh, I'll go later"-ing my way out of snorkeling and if I was lucky, I knew that all of a sudden it would be too late for me to go and we'd just have to pack up and go home with everyone else having snorkeled but me. Oh well!!!!!
What I didn't count on was having two very patient friends who also happen to be expert snorkelers (and scuba divers, as if snorkeling weren't enough). They kind of wouldn't take no for an answer and before I knew it, I was swimming out to Snoopy Island and snorkeling.
There were some hitches, like how I didn't have fins, and how I was somehow completely incapable of de-fogging my mask, but I saw some awesome underwater scenes and I more or less figured out the breathing thing. In fact, I believe my Christmas present this year will be my very own fins/mask/snorkel. I enjoyed it that much.
I'm so glad I went snorkeling and I'm so glad for friends who weren't afraid to push me beyond my comfort zone...but still like me even if I failed. That's the best kind of peer pressure.
A few weekends ago, we went to Fujairah to spend the day at the beach with friends. One of the attractions on offer there was snorkeling. I knew I wouldn't like snorkeling. It combined all the terror of being underwater with it all pressing down on me with the awkward inconvenience of not being able to breathe through my nose, which only compounded my fear of the water. I was absolutely planning on "oh, I'll go later"-ing my way out of snorkeling and if I was lucky, I knew that all of a sudden it would be too late for me to go and we'd just have to pack up and go home with everyone else having snorkeled but me. Oh well!!!!!
What I didn't count on was having two very patient friends who also happen to be expert snorkelers (and scuba divers, as if snorkeling weren't enough). They kind of wouldn't take no for an answer and before I knew it, I was swimming out to Snoopy Island and snorkeling.
There were some hitches, like how I didn't have fins, and how I was somehow completely incapable of de-fogging my mask, but I saw some awesome underwater scenes and I more or less figured out the breathing thing. In fact, I believe my Christmas present this year will be my very own fins/mask/snorkel. I enjoyed it that much.
I'm so glad I went snorkeling and I'm so glad for friends who weren't afraid to push me beyond my comfort zone...but still like me even if I failed. That's the best kind of peer pressure.