Falling In
I came home from my lesson tonight and very excitedly shared with my husband that I had learned to fall and dive into the water. “You had to learn how to fall?” (I should mention that my husband swims like a fish, and thus much of my fears are a foreign concept to him.) “Yes,” I said, “Apparently, there’s more to it, than just the fall.”
That’s largely true. Many of us are afraid of falling. We’ve all done it and have various scars (mental and/or physical) to prove it. Or is t that we afraid of landing? Landing has the potential to hurt. Even landing in water…ever heard of a belly flop? (From what I understand, they can really knock the wind out of you.) So, there’s a way to fall. Fall so that you don’t belly flop, and so that you don’t get the burn from the water going up your nose.
So it seems that we just don’t know how to fall. We take it as just a free for all and whatever happens, happens.
Before today, I was one to ease my way into the water, lamenting on how cold it feels. I am this way in life as well, tepidly entering into new situations, surveying the surroundings, figuring out the pitfalls and pratfalls before going deeper.