The only other time I’ve been this terrified (and emotional) watching someone on a diving board was in 1988 watching Greg Louganis hit his head on the platform in the Seoul Summer Olympics. Today surpassed that greatly.
My girl – my brave, courageous girl – has only recently become a fan of water when not wearing a flotation device. She’s well beyond the point when that sort of assistance should have been abandoned. But, big fears die hard. She finally swam independently earlier this summer. And today, she (spoiler alert) conquered the high dive.
What I saw today -as sweat dropped off and down me everywhere in the 105 degree heat index- was a little girl with a huge fear. And she looked that fear in the eye and told it who is boss. She painfully spent almost 10 minutes on that diving board, holding up the line, and weighing the pro’s and con’s of flinging herself off the safety of that board.
I watched her friends cheer her on below shouting words of encouragement and tips (“Just close you eyes!” “You’ll lose your stomach but you won’t puke!” “Take off your goggles first!!”). I saw sweet faces who related with fear and instead of poking fun, they rallied below willing her to take the leap.
And I saw this little body- that I swear still belongs to my three year old – almost back down the ladder. But then she steeled herself, took a deep breath, and took the leap.
Isn’t that how we all overcome fear and our own shortcomings? Deep breaths, encouragement (no matter how dubious) from friends, and just taking the leap? Man, I hope I am that brave in my day to day. And I pray I am that encouraging when I see friends, colleagues, or acquaintances battling fear. Today I’m committing to be as brave as that little chic in the Popsicle bathing suit and as encouragingly sweet as the amazing friends that accumulated around the diving well in the time it took to produce that big jump.
