Overcoming water fear
It was really early in the morning. I remember talking to the mom who told me that her husband was visiting for a tattoo convention. Her son who was about second grade & I connected & we're talking. He was excited to see dolphins & so was I.
We all got on the boat & arrived at our first destination. The second grader got into the ocean & freaked out. I went over to him & started talking with him. I told him how I had watched my brother almost drown & showed him the scar under my chin where I had, a diving accident. I told him how I had taken a whole summer vacation to relearn how to put my face in the water & how hard it was. I sat & talked with him about fear & how hard it was to overcome, & how I still get scared but how I face it. How I speak to it.
What was awesome was hus parents sat there & let me talk to him. What was even more awesome was he got back in the water on our next stop & I could hear him laughing with his parents!
Towards the end of our trip we did get to see dolphins & I got them to sing happy birthday to my partner.
On our ride home the 2nd grader sat next to me and I continued to encourage him that he could do & be anything.
I never knew my working so hard to overcome my fear would help a young person overcome theirs