HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED TO ME WHEN I JUMPED INTO THE WATER

In 1997 I jumped into the water for the first time to swim. This was behind St Mary’s senior Science college in Ediene Abak, Akwa Ibom State. I was a freshman at this prestigious college. We had just had lunch and off I went to the stream behind the school to swim and fetch some water for the senior students.

MY FIRST APPROACH

Approaching the stream, it was indeed a sight to behold, all sizes of nakedness and all forms of floating devices for the newbies were in full display.

Immediately, my naivety came into full display and before you know it, I was already into the water patting and playing on the shallow banks. Somehow, I didn’t know what happened but I suddenly felt the urge to dive in further and boy!… I did and this is where the story got interesting.

THE GROUND DISAPPEARED

At first, I couldn’t feel the ground again and off I went to the depth and the struggle began. I didn’t know how to swim and immediately my life began to flash before me while I was busy taking in gulps upon gulps of the murky water.

This lasted I think for about 5 minutes and each time I will come for air but in a split of a second, I was back again into the depths. How did Jonah even manage in the belly of the fish?

I DROWNED AND RESURRECTED

See, I was drowning, dying and I knew it until I felt this strong hand grab me from behind and pulled me to the banks. I didn’t mind the loud taunts directed towards me obviously it was a normal sight for them to see freshers like me get their first bitter experience with swimming.

Long story short. In my attempt to swim, I failed. True that it was my first attempt but I failed anyway. I later met the strong hand that grabbed me. He is of blessed memory now, late Idongesit Michael Etuk who became my pal in school. Idongesit coached me and helped me learn how to manoeuvre the waters and till today I am in tune with water bodies.

HERE’S FAILURE

Failure has been part of our lives right from the time our lives started. Remember when you learnt how to ride a bike, learnt how your alphabets, numbers, manners…each of us failed time and time again.

When you fail as you will see that you have not escaped failure especially of the unknown, you need an accountability partner to keep you in check so that you don’t sink into the trap of depression as a result of failure which keeps us stunned from another attempt.

LIFE RE-BOOTCAMP

Life re-Bootcamp starting this morning is the perfect place for you to get this accountability partner and it affords you the right mindset to deal with any form of failure and fear presently in your life and the ones yet to come.

You are on the verge of something big for your life, do not allow fear of failure rob you of the opportunity to reset, restart and relaunch your life just as Idongesit helped me in the story you just read.