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Coach Minda's
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These blogs are a way to share my thoughts and insights with you. Feel free to comment and share.
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 I have a lot of experience swimming in an indoor pool but much prefer a lake, even though I have a healthy dose of fear about long-distance swimming in open water.
What if I:
In fact, I've had a few real-life scares. Nevertheless, I love swimming and playing in the water. I dive, kick, splash, paddle, flip and do underwater headstands, hold my breath and do forward and backward somersaults. I laugh from the inside out. When I swim without keeping track of the number of strokes, or laps or amount of time lapsed, I fall into an effortless and synchronized rhythm of cardiac effort, breath and technique. I am soothed. The feel of water embracing me, the solitude and the flotation, is pure freedom incarnate. Not all swims are equally perfect, but this weekend in a quiet lake, I was “one with the water”. I swam like my idea of a barracuda - strong, fast and streamlined, barely lifting my head out of the water for air. Then, I stopped. I was gripped with an irrational fear that I had got too far from the shore and didn't have the physical strength to get back. I turned to face the dock and I was only 60 meters away and there were no waves! I had a stock market crash of self-confidence. I resisted the panic and did the "dead-man's float" to calm myself. Then, without any difficulty I swam back to shore. What brings you great pleasure? And, possibly fear? Have you had any stock market crashes of self-confidence lately? What did you do? Keep you posted, Coach Minda
6 Comments
Leah
24/7/2013 02:40:34 pm
Really liked this Minda. It's a good story, great metaphor and I can relate even though I never swim like a barracuda. Not even like a jelly fish. But I feel that way on a bike. Or a horse. Strong and free. But doubt can sometimes sit at the edge. And what are the chances of any of those fears occurring? I'd say very rare. So I try and enjoy those rare moments of feeling strong and free.
In this story, my fear was totally irrational.
ms
25/7/2013 03:53:00 am
My 'stock-market crashes' occur when there is a disconnect between my internal story of the way something's going to happen (event, conversation, etc) and the reality of what actually does happen. I regain confidence by reminding myself that OF COURSE I can't predict others' behaviour/reactions and that a different reality is just different, not bad. But the first reaction can feel like i've dropped altitude quite suddenly!
Mag
26/7/2013 02:27:45 am
Thanks for this post. I like the image of dead man's float for when I get panicky about not knowing what I'm doing in my life. Sometimes the panic leads to a sort of emotional paralysis. Better to pre-empt that constriction with the soothing discipline of dead man's float. I guess my 'dead man's float' is usually going for a walk, taking a cup of tea outside or painting a bit of furniture. Just hadn't thought of it that way before.
Danielle
26/7/2013 09:40:16 am
I had a lot of stress and anxiety lately. At one point fears came from everywhere, unexpected, unexplained and very hard to control. No danger here of drawning in deep water but the horrible sensation of having your mind paralysed and controlled by the fear of just being there with yourself and those so scary and annoying body reactions!! You can call this panic attacks . ..Turning on my back and slowing down would have been impossible. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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April 2025
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