Learning to Swim

A deeply personal journey of overcoming submechanophobia, childhood trauma, and learning to swim at age 35. From terror of water tanks to swimming 700m in sessions.

馃摑 Note This post should have photos of the things I fear. It does not because I鈥檓 terrified to look at them. I do have photos of me in swimming gear and my pool, but by learning to swim, I have not conquered my fear. I merely face it. If you want the TLDR of this post, you might want to check out my detailed swimming progress tracking page. Fear I am terrified of water tanks, stepped wells, regular wells, temple tanks, over head water tanks, monolithic statues partially or fully submerged. I鈥檓 not fully scared of oceans, rivers, ponds or lakes. What I have is termed submechanophobia, but oddly enough I鈥檓 not too scared of watching documentaries of the Titanic Wreck. I鈥檓 absolutely terrified of looking at even photos or videos of the former stuff though. ...

Learning to Swim

A deeply personal journey of overcoming submechanophobia and childhood trauma to learn swimming at age 35. A story of facing fears, family trauma, and finding courage through the Litany Against Fear from Dune.

馃摑 Note This post should have photos of the things I fear. It does not because I鈥檓 terrified to look at them. I do have photos of me in swimming gear and my pool, but by learning to swim, I have not conquered my fear. I merely face it. If you want the TLDR of this post, you might want to check out my progress table. Fear I am terrified of water tanks, stepped wells, regular wells, temple tanks, overhead water tanks, monolithic statues partially or fully submerged. I鈥檓 not fully scared of oceans, rivers, ponds or lakes. What I have is termed submechanophobia, but oddly enough I鈥檓 not too scared of watching documentaries of the Titanic Wreck. I鈥檓 absolutely terrified of looking at even photos or videos of the former stuff though. ...

Reading the Mahabharata by the Tungabhadra - Day 20

Final day of the Mahabharata reading journey at Hampi - reflecting on overcoming fear, finding courage like Arjuna before the Bhagavad Gita, and the completion of a transformative 20-day reading pilgrimage.

This journey has been relieving. I have done all that I set out to do. I came for a larger purpose, to start writing once again. It has been too long, and I have been scared of something. Fear is a gripping thing, and it has defined a lot in my life. My closest friends know how much I fear some things. When I think about the thing I fear most, my palms sweat, and I begin speaking at five times my normal pace. ...