What is Your Fear
I guess the first thing you need to do is work out where your fear actually stems from. For me personally, I think it was mostly the deep water and a fear of the unknown. Even in a pool, my stroke seemed to flow along
smoothly without any problems as long as the pool did not exceed about two metres in depth. This is great during the winter months as a lot of the indoor pools in my area, rarely even get to this height. But when I went to a local pool that had a diving board at one end, the depth reached almost four metres and as the bottom of the pool dropped away I suffered almost like vertigo symptoms, resulting in my legs sinking and my stroke turning into a complete mess, turning into a struggle to get to the edge of the pool. This was in my adult life as well, even after numerous hours surfing in the cold winter of Southern Victoria.
So for me, there was definitely an aspect of the deep water, I'm sure some time with a psychologist would be able to extract the actual reasons for the fear, but for each individual, it's going to be different.
Way to Overcome Your Fear
This isn't an extensive list but something to start thinking about when trying to overcome swimming anxiety.
Swim With a Group
I never advocate to swim alone, especially in open water. Swimming with a group can give you added confidence to take on situations that you would normally not. Swimming with a group can help you remove yourself or take your mind off some of the points that are giving your anxiety, and it can also help you push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Use Visualisation
This is a big topic on its own, but something to think about as visualisation can take help you tackle your anxiety without putting you in danger. It's a definite way to help cope or get yourself use to difficult situations or help you think of ways to deal with stressful situations before you get yourself into them in real life.
Use Pre Swim Strategies
As well of visualising strategies, there are other steps you can take before you even step into the water. Keeping in a positive mindset or positive self talk can help. Deep breathing before you get into the water can help you calm down.
Swim Regularly
The only way you are going to get better at something is by doing it as much as possible. This is especially true in open water. The more you swim in open water, the different conditions you will be exposed to, including water conditions, clarity of the water, swimming with people around you.
Learn to Breath On Both Sides
Some people wonder what the benefits are, but when you get hit by a small wave when taking a breath you can easily switch to the other side to breath. It is also helpful to try and alternate the number of strokes you take, for example breath every three strokes, five strokes, then seven strokes. This will help you get used to times when you can't breath when you want to breath and allow you to know that you can stay calm if you get into these situations.
Open Water/Autumn, 2016 7