Not Born to be a Mer--Was Anyone Else terrified of Water?

[Seatan]

It seems like a lot of people on here have wanted to be mermaids their whole lives. Despite growing up with a lake house I spent most of my childhood afraid of putting my face in the water and had zero interest in becoming a mermaid until I was an adult and learned to dive--it wasn't until then that I started to love mermaids. Was anyone else a late bloomer?

[Shimmer Mermaid]

I couldnt play video games that required me to get into water where i couldnt see the bottom to progress in the game. I was terrified. I was scared of what was in the water with me.

Our local swim team is called the Sharks. So in the bottom of the pool, they painted a HUGE realistic shark! It only made me more scared.

I was always drawn to water. And always wanted to be a mermaid. But my fear kept me from swimming in anything deeper than i was. The pool was only open in summer months, and if you wanted to swim any other time for free, you had to settle with the lake. Which i refused until i was 15, when i got my first serious boyfriend, and he taught me to swim better, and to swim without as much worry. :)

[Sherielle]

I was a reluctant swimmer as a child. I remember being at the lake with my family and wearing a float vest while my sisters frolicked in the water. We had a pool when I was a kid and I didn't get swim lessons until I was in the second grade. Even then I was hesitant in the water. Heck, I remember going to a swim lesson at a local YMCA and hating it. I don't know why either. For the past decade, I would swim if I had to, preferring to float on something rather than getting all wet. I still absolutely HATE being dunked in the water. I even tried SCUBA but almost had a panic attack while doing so.
That said, I've always loved how mermaids looked. When I first saw a commercial tail that you could buy for yourself (I think it was Mike Van Daals) on facebook, I wanted one SO BAD. I don't know what made me start to swim without fear, but I have a feeling it is due to the anti-anxiety drugs I've been on these past few years to ease my stupid fears.
When I got my first monofin, I took to it like....yes...a fish to water. Then I was lucky to be able to purchase a silicone tail second (third?) hand and that too was so very awesome to swim in.
Now I can't wait until my local pool opens in a couple of weeks.

[SeaGlass Siren]

I'm a late bloomer too!

[MerMaisy]

I didn't really learn to swim decently till I was at least 11. Now I'm ok with it, except I get cold super easily. Not sure what I'm gonna do about that

[Seatan]

Wetsuits are a girl's best friends! I mermaid only in warm water, otherwise I'm shopping for cute shorties, not cute swimsuits! Even when it's a hundred degrees out I have at least a rash guard and neoprene shorts!!! I get cold so easy and I haaaate it!

[Mermaid Menanna]

I'm not sure what qualifies as a late bloomer? I didn't learn to swim until I was about 8 yrs old, when I had a babysitter who finally taught me. I loved water for as long as I can remember and distinctly remember "swimming" in the bathtub as a young child, lol. I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be a fish or a mermaid... but it has taken me to age 45 to finally get my first tail. As a kid I used to "dolphin swim" in the local pool any chance I got, spending more time underwater than above. A few friends and I used to climb fences to access the city pool after dark (when it was closed) and also a local quarry that was supposed to be off limits. I have always considered myself a "water-baby" and am super excited to finally become a full fledged mermaid this summer. :)

When I was about 9 or 10 yrs old my grandparents took us on a trip to Florida. I got to sit on the beach and play in the sand for a little while but I was not allowed near the water because my grandparents didn't know how to swim, so they were afraid I would drown. My mother has always hated & feared water due to a traumatic experience when she was a young adult. My father took her out in a boat one day, knowing she couldn't swim, threw her into deep water and told her if she wanted to get back into the boat she had to swim. She almost drowned and has never gone near the water again. (that was before I was born) He did something similar to my little brother when we were kids. I think the only thing that stopped him from doing it to me was my mother and the fear of a court battle. :-( I guess I am grateful for that because I can't imagine my life being afraid of the water... I would literally live in it all the time if I could. Even my husband swears I am part fish.

[MerMaisy]

That's smart. Yeh I'll be swimming at a friend's house and I'll have to ask them occasionally if my lips are blue. Then I go to the hot tub. It's a pain in the butt.

[SeaGlass Siren]

if it makes any of you feel better, i didnt learn how to properly float/swim until two years ago. im turning 24 now.

[Mermaid Jaffa]

I taught myself at a very young age, how to "swim" by copying others. I never progressed any further than the dog and frog paddles. I did the dog paddle for 40 years! :$
It wasn't until late last year that I decided to take up mermaid swimming as a form of exercise. I wanted something more fun and exciting than what I knew.

I didn't do any swimming when we moved to Australia as my eyesight had gotten worse, when I was a kid, I wore coke bottle glasses. Then when I moved here, to a new country, my confidence fell apart. Because taking off my glasses meant not being able to move. In Singapore, we swam at the same place each visit, so I was used to how many steps it took to get to the pool edge, how deep it was etc. In Australia, everything was different and that made me very cautious of getting in any type of water except the bath tub!

[AniaR]

Yes I was. Terrified and intrigued. Didn't learn to swim til I was 15. Militantly wore a life jacket. Lol

[Talia]

My mom tells me (I don't remember it very well) that when I was a little kid and got signed up for swimming lessons I puked every time I had to go. Apparently I was mad with fear of going there. I do remember an instance where the teacher would take you to the deeper end of the pool, push you if you didn't want to go into the water, and make you swim to the other side, without any kind of aids (like floaties or vests). How you got there was totally your business. He wouldn't allow you to reach to the side - he would push you with a long wooden spear to make you swim. If you got under, you better came up, because they did not help you - unless you were REALLY drowning. I do remember that as if it was yesterday, me doing the dog paddle and gasping for air until I reached the stairs. When you reached the stairs you were allowed to go out of the water. Then wait for everybody in the class to do it, and then it was my turn again.

But apart from that, all my memories related to water are happy. When I was a teenager I signed up myself for swimming lessons to perfect my technique - my teacher was one of the trainers of the National Swimming team - or so I was told. I learnt a lot under her guidance, and my love for water remains to this day.

[SeaGlass Siren]

Holy fish cakes. Your teacher was fucked..... Who the hell does that to a kid???

[Talia]

Holy fish cakes. Your teacher was fucked..... Who the hell does that to a kid???

Apparently it wasn't just him. It was "company policy" or something.

My aunt used to take me there, and she told me about a kid whose mother dropped off that would not stop crying. They told the mother she could leave and when she was out of sight, they dunked the kid under the water and holded him there. When they let him out, he gasped for air and started crying again. Then they dunked him again. When he got out again there was no more crying.

If it was horrible for me, I cannot imagine being that kid.

[Ashe]

Aha, this was me. I would scream and cry whenever I was encouraged to swim. I think we went through four different swim schools until we found one that actually taught in a way that clicked. By taught I mean they tossed you into the water so your instincts basically kicked in full and you swam for your life. Well after that I realized it was kind of cool to be able to swim around. Ever since then, the water and I couldn't part. Whenever my family sees me in a tail or monofinning in the ocean, they always bring up how they never through to would be able to do anything like this.

[Talia]

Oh, Kalani, I hear you!

[Sherielle]

My swim class memories aren't as traumatic as those, but I still hated them. To this day, I do not care for the smell of an indoor pool. Starts to give me a sort of panic attack.

[Mermaid Harmony]

I was always a good swimmer I was even a lifeguard, but after watching are you afraid of the dark episode about a haunted pool I never swam in a pool unless there was at least 2 or more people in it, and couldn't be by myself in the deep end. Once I found out about mermaids I figured I either could let my fear control me or get over it and be a mermaid. I still don't swim in the ocean alone (just a simple good idea always). Deep water terrifies me a bit, but I've gotten better since going out and doing open water shoots with Coradion but still won't be first in the water, and although I have swum alone in a pool since learning about mermaids it still gives me the heebee jeebies

[AniaR]

Damn Canadian show scared everyone with that pool episode!!!!

[SeaGlass Siren]

What show?

[Thalassa]

My mom took me to swim lessons when I was 5, but I absolutely refused to put my head under the water. Because your head inadvertently goes under the water all the time...I ended up sitting at the edge of the pool all summer.

Then when I was 15 I nearly drowned at a water park (I loved wading and going in the water with inner tubes), and I decided I needed to learn to swim. Unfortunately, my class was full of little kiddies who thought I was a floaty toy, so I never progressed past a dog paddle good enough to keep my head up and float.

So you can imagine when I told my parents I was going to be a mermaid. They were like, "Umm...you can't swim!" I'm sure they thought I would drown!

[Elodea the Mermaid]

I was always a good swimmer, but I'm afraid of heights and I will not dive into a pool. I never learned and never will. You're asking me to fling myself HEAD FIRST through the air? Madness, I tell you.

[Squall]

I'm definitely going to be a late bloomer, 44 years old and still land bound, somehow I never got around to learning to swim properly. It's not through a fear of the water though, last time I was in a pool was when I was at school in the beginners class and so long as I wasn't out of my depth I'd happily go under the water. Hoping to get some lessons later this year and see how things go from there. And the only reason I'm considering lessons so late is because I found this wonderful community. :)

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