Everyday in May: Spiders Up the Water Spout

Today's prompt is: "The thing(s) you're most afraid of." Well, I was basically born with a fear of water. I don't know why, but my mother could barely even give me a sink bath when I was a baby, and when I got a little older, she had to force me to take a shower once a week.

But I got over that fear. I had to teach myself. Nobody could help me. Any attempt to teach me to swim or go in the water only made the problem worse. It was when I saw my family having fun in the pool at my grandmother's trailer park. I wanted to have fun with them, so I decided to teach myself how to swim.

The first step was to sit on the steps of the pool at the shallow end. Then I began holding on to the edge, and walking to the farthest point where my feet were still firmly on the floor of the pool. The next step was to push off from the steps to grab the edge, while still staying withing the shallow part of the pool. I would push my legs behind me farther and farther until I could "glide" to the edge.

This is also my background photo. I took it at Hesperia Lake.

Once I could do that, I would hold on to the edge and kick my legs out behind me until my legs were straight out behind me. The final step was the most difficult, because it meant that I had to actually swim without touching the floor of the pool. The object of this part was to basically doggy paddle, so that I could pull myself around with my arms. I finally got to the point where I could doggy paddle, and eventually could swim past the shallow area. After that, everything else was easy. My fear completely faded, and I now love the water!

But I'm still afraid of spiders. I've just never had a really good reason to get rid of that fear, although I've done a bit of work so that I'm not quite as terrified as I used to be. I'm also afraid of throwing up, but I think that one is rational. Nobody likes it, and I don't really want to "practice." I'd rather just never have to throw up ever in my life. Ever, ever again. Ever.