The summer I stopped being scared of the deep end of the pool

I grew up near a lake in Minnesota. Every summer my parents would drag me to the public beach. I stayed in the shallow end for years, never going past my chest. Then when I was about 13, this older kid just swam out to the middle and yelled at me to follow. I did. That was 20 years ago. Now I can't stand being in water that's only waist deep. Weird how one afternoon flips something in your head. Anybody else have a random kid change how you saw a fear?

2 comments

2 Comments

karen_sanchez4919h ago

Whoa, @hugoj12 a backwards cannonball off the high dive? That's wild, I can barely jump forward without freezing up. Maybe having that crazy experience just resets something in your brain about what's actually scary.

hugoj121d ago

Wait, you just made me remember something I'd totally buried. There was this kid at the town pool when I was like 9, he was maybe 11 and had this crazy loud laugh. He dared me to jump off the high dive backwards. I did it, landed kinda sideways and scraped my whole back on the way down. Still hurts to think about. But after that I wasn't scared of the deep end anymore, just scared of backwards cannonballs. Funny how one goofy dare can erase years of being chicken.