I'm being chased by a shark! Really!

[nyecamden]

I am scared of the living things in the water when I swim. It's silly, I know. When I was a kid, I encouraged myself to swim faster by imagining I was being chased by a shark. I know that there isn't anything dangerous living in the swimming ponds on Hampstead Heath (apart from when the bacteria levels get too high sometimes in the summer), but I'm

Comments

[cloudsdriftby]

I can't stay in water too long. Every five minutes I start getting paranoid and need to back into a corner so that I can see everything around me. Sometimes even that doesn't help. :/

If you do find a way to get around that, please tell me. I hate feeling like everytime I want to go swimming.

[nyecamden]

Eh, I think I'm like that in open-air in public sometimes, but not water.

[lizblackdog]

I have no useful advice, I'm afraid. This is exactly why I only swim in swimming pools...

[nyecamden]

Well, I'm used to leches in the Jacuzzi.

[shelleybear]

"Rent-a-Dolphin"?

[wylddelirium]

Go to a Pet Shop and ask them if you can stick your hand in one of the tanks (you'll probably need to explain why). They have to do it all the time to clean the algae out.

Better yet, if you can, get a betta fish, take it home and get to know it.

Do these things in controlled atmospheres with people who know what they're doing, to prove that you're unlikely to get hurt by them.

[nyecamden]

Hm, that would be a good suggestion if I had a more intense phobia, but what you described wouldn't squick me in the least I imagine. It's swimming with the things that unsettles me. I like swimming in the same water as swans, coots and moorhens though.

Thanks for your input.

[aster13]

Hmm...*ponders*

As a sea swimmer, i can understand this. Would it help to find out exactly what is in the water, then maybe your logical brain will kick in to work out what it is instead of being worried by it.

[nyecamden]

Ooh! That's a really good idea. I shall do a little research on pond life.