u/_ComeAlongWithMe

Hi all. I’m new to this sub, but I just want to share. I have a deep fear of being horizontal in water, or my feet not touching the ground while in water. Whether it’s called aquaphobia, or something else, I don’t know.

I think it stems from my almost-drowning experiences as a kid, and even though I’ve had some good experiences in water: 1) learned swimming in school as a kid but I was always the last and slowest, and quickly forgot it after, 2) tried back floating in the sea around 10 years ago and found it really fun!, and 3) tried snorkelling last year in the ocean but in very VERY shallow waters — I am still afraid of the water and cannot swim and float properly. It’s like the more I get older the more fearful I become? It’s weird.

Anyway, I’m turning 30 this year and I thought why not try to overcome my fear by taking swimming lessons. I do want to be confident in water again, and be able to swim as an exercise and enjoy it on holidays.

I found adult swimming lessons for beginners in my city (London), and so far I’ve done two classes. It’s group classes but the groups are quite small and there’s loads of teachers, so I still get one-on-one support. So far I have been able to do:
• breathing bubbles
• treading water (with noodle)
• kicking legs to swim/move (with noodle/kickboard)
• push and glide (with kickboard)
• sculling (with noodle/kickboard)
• floating on my back (with noodle/support from teacher holding my head)
• lying back with my ears fully in the water (i couldn’t do this before as my body was so tense, and i get really ticklish in my neck - weird i know, i get it with strong air/winds too)

I have tried to do some of these without support/floating devices, but I still get afraid and my body ends up ‘jerking’ the wrong way, and I fall in the water and end up with water in my nose/throat which is a horrible feeling.

One thing I observed about my fear is not really drowning (as many have explained to me I cannot ‘drown’ in a beginners swimming pool), but just the feeling that my feet won’t be in the ground / I’ll be horizontal in the water. Because right now it feels so unnatural, I can do it for a few seconds but I’ll want to stand on my feet again to feel I am in control of my body. I also haven’t gotten the habit of ‘getting down’ after floating so I think I’ll have to practice this more. I know I should relax but it’s quite hard to simply relax — I have to mentally will myself to do it haha.

I know I’m still a long way from my goals (learning how to swim, float, and just be confident in water) and I’ll have to get used to getting water in my nose & ears, and eventually let go of the floating devices (which is still a really scary thought right now). But I’m hoping I’ll get there. I’ll still show up to class, afraid and a lil bit embarrassed. But I’ll try. Any tips for an absolute beginner (with a phobia), are welcome! Thank you for reading.

(TL;DR - just a 29/yo girl with aquaphobia who started adult beginner swimming classes. Still struggle with it and still have a lot of fears but sharing my story to be accountable with myself, hopefully get some tips from people who’ve experienced the same, and celebrate what I have done so far. Baby steps!)

Has anyone here done an elopement in Peru?

We were looking at doing a Cusco one around early December. But can’t find other experiences/examples here aside from one. Is there a reason it’s not as common as other international eloping destinations?

If you’ve had one, can you please share location/s you’ve used (we love mountains!), photographers, planners, or any other tips? (We are travelling from the UK)

Thank you!