self confidence

Before this summer, Kate pretty much didn't even put her face under water. Eleven swim lessons later and she is now going off the diving board.

I am amazed at the progress. I know the word "amazed" is really overused these days, but in this case it fits.

The story I want to remember about this is how much her confidence has grown this summer. On the second day of group swim lessons, Kate could not even talk herself into jumping into the water from the side of the pool. The instructor told them all to jump in, go under water, and bob back up. All of the kids did it without hesitation. Kate stood frozen at the side of the pool. The instructor tried to encourage her and we could all see that Kate really wanted to jump in, but she just couldn't seem to make her body do it.

Fast forward a few swim lessons later and Kate was starting to get more comfortable in the water. The instructor told them all it was time to go off the diving boards. Kate's internal struggle was apparent on her face. She wanted to do it but she was terrified. The other kids eagerly took jump after jump off the board. Kate kept moving herself to the back of the line. Finally one of her swim instructors told her it was time to give it a try. Kate hesitantly walked out to the end of the board, stood right at the edge, and tried to convince herself that she could do it. Her body would start the jump and then she would just freeze in place.... over and over again. This went on as the other kids are jumping off the board next to hers. The whole class took a turn on the other board in the time that Kate stood frozen at the end of hers. Rather than being frustrated with her, everyone was cheering her on, even the other parents watching the lesson who didn't know her/us. One mom kept saying, "Bless her heart. Oh, just bless her little heart!" and one of the dads yelled out encouragement at one point. Her teachers really wanted her to have success and as the class was ending, two of the teachers were in the pool on each side of the board promising to catch her if she would just jump in.

And then she did.  And looked so happy and proud and amazed with herself that I couldn't help tearing up.

As we were driving home from lessons, she told me, "I think if you think you CAN do something, then you can. And if you think you CAN'T do something, then you probably won't."  yep.

Since that day, she's been going off the board each lesson. A few days ago we met friends at the pool and she got to go off the boards with them, a first for her and something she's been longing to do for at least a year now.