I have shared here severally that I am from a riverine area and fortunately for me, I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly part of rivers, so trust me when I say it's not for the fainty hearted. Despite being surrounded by rivers, I have been afraid of anything that looks like a body of water, lol.
Yeah, I know what people usually say about kids living in riverine areas, that they are usually good swimmers and friends of the ocean. But that wasn't true for me because I was unfortunate to witness a drowning incident as a child, and that traumatic event left a fear for waters in my head.
I was just 7 years of age at that time and my best friend Timmy was almost the same age as me (although he was bigger and taller than me). The morning was sunny and we decided to go out to play in the sand with other kids as we had always been doing. But on this fateful day we weren't enjoying the sand play so we headed off to the river to have some good time.
I wasn't really in support of the idea of we going to swim in the river because even though I was small, I have heard stories of what the water is capable of doing to someone. We were about 5 kids that went to swim in the river on that day, and they was no mature or good swimmer amongst us.
We all entered the water and were displaying our swimming skills in the shallower part of the water, I believed kid amongst us knew the implication of going deep when they was no one there to help us. "Why didn't we just avoided the river and went back home?" is the question I kept asking myself after this incident.
Timmy was the best swimmer amongst us, and so he was going to the deeper parts of the waters and coming back to the shallower parts successfully. The thought that I was putting my hopes on Timmy to help me if things go sideways in this river is what had kept me scared for too long.
Timmy dived into the waters and stayed longer than usual, as we were all standing in the shallower part of the water complimenting Timmy's bravery and his swimming improvement thus far, not knowing that he was struggling for his life inside the water at that moment.
Just while we were yet waiting for Timmy to come out of the water as usual, he finally did, but he was afar-off in the deeper part of the water struggling against the relentless pull of the river's currents. I witnessed Timmy crying for help, but instead of the other kids and I to go help him, we ran out to safer places outside the water bank.
There was no big person around to come to our aid, and we were confused at how to even help. Watching Timmy fight against the flow, his face covered in fear, and hearing his cries for help, is what has instilled a fear for waters in me, even till this day.
This event did more than just scare me, because it embedded a sense of vulnerability and a realization of how quickly joy can turn to sadness in this life. The river, with its deceptive calm and hidden currents, became a symbol of uncontrollable danger in my mind, leading to years of avoiding water at all costs.
This childhood event was the genesis of my phobia for waters, a moment that set the course for years of avoidance and anxiety surrounding anything called "body of water." This has not only affected my social life but it has also affected my mental life, as it has hindered me from so many experiences and explorations.
Like we might have rightly guessed, fear is a torment to our minds, so I have suffered the effect of my fears for water until now I have finally broken free. When I was still living in the phobia of waters, it affected my choices of activities. There were days when I would be invited by friends to beaches or pools and I would say a big No, lol.
But like the saying goes, "face your fears and it would run from you", that was my motivation into overcoming my phobia for waters. I started accepting invitations to pools and beaches, starting with shallow pools and gradually moving to calmer lakes, I fought the battle of fear even though my mind was telling me to retreat. To a large extent, I think I have overcame this fear and I hope it doesn't come back.
My entry for day 24 of the InLeo monthly prompt, organized by the InLeo team. You can check out the link here for participation.
All images used in this article are mine.
I appreciate your time around here❤️:-)