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Friday, December 16, 2011

Red Writing Hood -- 3, 2, 1


Three, two, one. No! I can’t do this!?! They’re waiting for me. Everyone is waiting for me to take that first step. I have to do it. I can’t do it!

It’s just one step. One GIANT step. That’s even what they call it. Walk up to the edge of the pool, and let your fins hang over the edge of the pool. Look straight ahead at the horizon. Place your hand over your mask and regulator. And take one giant step. Into mid-air. Knowing you are going to fall.

I can barely swim. I know intellectually that I have all the necessary equipment – the BCD, the tank, the regulator, the mask, the fins. It’s only 12 feet deep, and my husband and instructor are waiting in the water for me. Just look straight ahead and take a step. Unfortunately all I can think about is all those old movies with scenes of people being forced to walk the plank!

I’ve flipped into the ocean backwards for God’s sake! How hard can this be? It’s like so many things in my life – a giant step of faith. Trusting in the unknown. Trusting in myself – that I’ve done the work, that I’m prepared, that I am capable. Other people believe in me. Why is it so hard to believe in myself?

I look into the pool and see two men that I know I can trust. Two men who believe in me. I look out toward the horizon. I close my eyes. Three, two, one – giant step.


read more or link up at Red Writing Hood

8 comments:

  1. Nice direction to take this one! Look before you leap? Not always. :O)

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  2. for those that were a bit worried, she did make it into the pool and all was fine. : > (way to go Mellie!)

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  3. Nice take, sometimes it's worth leaping. :)

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  4. This was descriptive. It's good to have trust, and take that giant step. Very good.

    If this had been RemberRed, I could have told a swimming story. DD1 was 4, she was learning to dive off the board she posed, 123 and then jumped, every time.

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  5. When she said she could barely swim, I was furious with those men for making her do this!! When she said she had flipped into the ocean backwards, I realized she was just telling herself she could barely swim, that she could, in fact, swim quite nicely!!!

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  6. Nicely done!! I think you captured the anxiety so well. :-)

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  7. very authentic, I could picture the person standing there hesitating.

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  8. I think we've all been in that situation, where we have to trust in ourselves but for some reason, it's hard!

    Nicely done!

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