Getting In the Deep End - Building Confidence

My son started ‘Stage 3’ swimming lessons this week.

Don't worry, that didn’t mean anything to me either.

But it did to him.

Why?

Because it meant going in the ‘big pool’. And the big pool has a ‘deep end’. And the deep end means he might drown and die.

He catastrophised this pretty quickly, we might agree.

But the idea of it was enough to put him off.

Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have much say in the matter.

I want him to be able to swim, so we send him to lessons. End of.

(and with the cost of them he isn’t skipping a lesson any time soon 😄)

In the end he was fine - one ‘leg and a wing to save the king’ into the deep end to see if he sinks or swims did the trick.

That’s a joke obviously.

But it got me thinking…

As adults, we have so many ‘deep ends’ of our own.

Places we don’t want to go to because we know we might be out of our depth.

Places we assume we’ll sink in if we even try.

Here’s what’s interesting though

For those of us that can swim, the deep end of a pool will always be out of our depth. 

We aren’t going to grow to 9ft tall so we can reach the safety of the bottom anytime soon.

What do we do instead?

We adapt.

We develop skills that allow us to survive, and then thrive.

When we do this, we can be swimming in the ocean, hundreds of metres off the ‘bottom’, yet be having the best time of our lives.

So… What’s your ‘deep end’?

What’s the place you fear going because of what ‘might’ happen to you?

What's that place you'd love to have confidence in, but keep holding yourself back?

• That leadership position you aren’t going for because you told yourself you’re not ready?

• That person you’re afraid of speaking to because they might reject you?

• That idea you aren’t chasing because it might ‘go wrong’?

All deep ends. All places that are scary this side of having the experience or skills to navigate it successfully.

Here’s the kicker though:

My son didn’t have much choice about getting out of his swimming lessons. He had to face his deep end, with no alternative.

That sounds harsh, but it’s a gift. Otherwise, out of choice he’d never do it himself. And that’s the curse of being an adult: we often have the choice to not ‘get into the pool’. 

So here’s my encouragement: Get into the pool.

Whether it’s a work thing, a personal thing, a health thing… Go to the deep end and work it out when you get there.

You won’t sink, and may just learn to have the best time of your life.