How do you get over the fear of drowning when learning how to swim?

Question

I do wear a life jacket 😑 I get lost in my head 😞

FunkyMonkee · Accepted Answer

if you have a pool with a shallow end, get in, hold your breathe and slowly put your head under water and just sit there like that as long as you can. When you can't stay there anymore, just lift you head out of the water! Do it several times until you get used to being under water and not being afraid of it. Once you get to the point where you no longer fear it, do it again but, lay flat near the bottom and push off from one side towards the other in the shallow end. When you run out of breath, just stop and stand up. Again just keep doing that until it doesn't bug you anymore. Next step, try doing the same just beyond the shallow end, etc..
When I was little, I never liked going under water. We had a creek up at the summer house and we'd go there every weekend. On my 15th b-day, we got a built in pool in the back yard. The guy that put it in for us was a high school friend of my dad's. The day it was finished being filled, he came by to check on it and then threw a few coins into the deep end as we looked into the water to try to see them, he pushed us in! Within a few months, if that, I was swimming like dolphin! I could easily go all the way to the bottom (9') and just sit on the bottom! Eventually, I got to the point where I could swim underwater all the way around the pool more than once (about 120') with just one breath.

Andres77 · Accepted Answer

stay in the shallow end until you get the basics down.

then put a strap around your waist tied to a flotation device and go deeper, if ur ever in trouble just pull the flotation device to you.

practice holding ur breath for longer periods of time. try to get up to one minute.

NathanDavis · Answer

well, I had not much of a choice really...

I actually figured out on my own how to learn to swim that one time I went to the beach for the first time, and some crazy wave hit me like the Jeepers Creepers truck and it would have been funny if it had been just that, but right away I felt myself being pulled around and away, underwater... by one of those R. I. P. currents, so it was scary the first second or two, when I realized holy crap... you cannot actually breathe underwater, lmao or see that much

so I had to figure out how to find the bottom, and then how to swim my way up, and away from that pull... how to keep afloat and all that, swim back to the beach

dustybiker · Answer

That’s it. Learn to control your fear. Water is the one place where the more you fight the current (in water with a current) the more likely you will drown. Relax and you’ll have a chance.

doodledee · Answer

I was lucky to start young enough to never have to really go through that. Or at least not remember it!

DubiousIntentions · Answer

You need to learn how to do 2 things - dog paddle and how to float on your back. You get these down and you won't drown.

Sour-rose · Answer

Train like a mofo to not drown. Also start small, small or low water levels where you can just stand.

Guy13 · Answer

Swim Coach/Lifeguard at a community or country club pool instruction. My Mom was same way...

ArtemisSilver · Answer

Most swimming pools built for lane swimming are shallow enough to allow for you to stand up if you're panicked and then just calm down and try again.

TallAnon · Answer

My dad was thrown from a ship by his grandfather "Learn to swim or drown".. After that he was no longer afraid.. Might not be ideal though..

bigpauly · Answer

Start in an area you can stand in.

_Just_A_girl_ · Answer

All the best

Guardian45 · Answer

Dead man's float

How do you get over the fear of drowning when learning how to swim?

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