“Me jumping in gave him the courage to go for it, and once he did, there was no stopping him! The swimming pool was never quite the same after that.”
Some takeaways…
- See what is out there. Step out of your comfort zone and you may be amazed.
- Push yourself to try it. Overcome your fear and give it a go – you may surprise yourself.
- If managing others, be prepared to offer coaxing and support where it is needed.
“A mind stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.”
This summer, our holiday hotel offered three options for swimming – a pool, a small area of beach sectioned off with a net to keep monsters out and the open sea.
My 7-year old son very much enjoyed the pool and the closed-off sea, but the open sea was way out. We had heard reports of jellyfish the year before, and for several days we didn’t even go and look, staying firmly in the safety of the netted-off area. Harry, however, soon became keen to try our hand at fishing, so we ventured further afield…
We found a jetty out to sea from which you could see plenty of fish, and, I reckoned, perhaps jump in and swim from. It was daunting – it was about 4 feet above the water, which is quite high for a little boy, and the water seemed to get awful deep, awful quick. There was no chance of ‘just sticking your toe in’ so jumping in was all or nothing. The jellyfish from the year before had not been sighted this year, others were swimming near us, and the water looked amazing…
I had to jump in before Harry was ready to try. This gave him the courage to go for it, and once he did, there was no stopping him! He jumped time and time again. We also then got brave enough to stay in the water and swim from the jetty, where the water went down to about 7 metres deep only a few metres from the shore. The fish were incredible!! I remember watching Harry swimming, and hearing squeals of excitement coming from his snorkel as he was blown away by how many fish were all around him.
The swimming pool was never quite the same after that. We would still go in the afternoon to play, once we got tired from the beach, but it was the sea that was the real action, the real excitement. The swimming pool was suddenly just for kids.
A simple experience, no doubt nowhere near as exciting as I have painted it in my memory, but one which literally altered the dimensions of Harry’s mind. He had been scared by, and overcome, something new, something exciting, something daunting but rewarding, and nothing would be the same again.
Takeaways
There are plenty of lessons for both self-development and the development of others in this little vignette. For yourself:
See what’s out there. Take a look around, step outside your surroundings and your comfort zone and see what you can see. You might be amazed.
Push yourself to try it. Be prepared to push yourself, be ready to have new experiences. It is scary. But it may give you a reward or perspective you never even considered.
If you are a developer of others:
They may need some coaxing. Some people may need encouragement to try new things, so be patient. What may seem easy to you may represent much larger hurdles for someone else, so let them ease into it, but make sure you are providing the support, encouragement and example that they can follow.
Thanks for reading.