Life lessons learned through snorkelling with kids.
I’m not going to lie. I thought snorkelling with kids would be a breeze. Turns out I was wrong, but the lessons learned from the experience were better than the expectations I had going into it.
When you think about snorkelling, you imagine warm blue waters with colourful, and tropical fish and sea life below you right? Well, this wasn’t our experience this time.
We went on a boat adventure on the weekend, and part of our trip included a stop at a popular snorkelling spot so we could get out and see the sea life.
The girls were excited, maybe a bit apprehensive as one of them believed there would be sharks, but stoked to get in the water overall. After a quick talk with one of the guides, we learned that the dolphins actually defend the local bay and there would be no sharks. We all breathed a little lighter and put on our smelly gear and got ready to jump in.
That smelly gear was the first problem. It wasn’t sized for kids, and during covid times, it had been heavily disinfected and the smell was overwhelming. — We still sucked it up, wiped off our gear a bit more and got prepared.
Before jumping in, the girls anxiety heightened. They were still unsure of the creatures they would find below, but we pumped them up and everyone on the boat cheered them on to jump in.
In we went. Automatic shock hit us. The water was very cold, and the girls started to tense up. We tried swimming behind the rest of the group, but their teeth were chattering and 1 out of 3 was crying and freezing up.
First lesson - we paused for a second to calm them down. We told them to stay very still, and quiet, and to feel their surroundings. They needed to understand they were secure in their life jackets, and that the cold water was just a sensation that they could overcome. That feeling of being cold, yes it can be shocking, but your body can handle it if you focus on breathing deeper. We took a few breaths, focused on how our body felt in the water, and what our surroundings looked like (very beautiful). They calmed down, stopped crying, and we were able to keep on swimming. We learned that breath can be a powerful tool to overcome tough moments.
Our next mission was to get through that tunnel you can see in the picture on the right above. I am not a fan of small dark spaces, so this was a challenge for me. But, I had to focus more on getting the girls through than worrying about my own fears. We swam very slowly to the entrance, and prepared ourselves to go through. Once we hit the tunnel we put our goggles on and some of us looked into the water. It was pretty dark, but you could see the rocks at the bottom of the ocean. Once in a while an ugly fish would appear, and one of us would see it, it was nothing that amazing so we weren’t able to feel like the beauty below was worth the cold water. We talked to each other, and tried to make each other laugh so as not to feel the cold or the little bit of fear in the back of their heads.
Second lesson: We finally made it to the end of the tunnel. And yes, a bit cliche, but for them they had actually just conquered a huge fear of theirs, and swam through a dark tunnel for absolutely no amazing fish. This, we could also apply to life. They were able to see that they are stronger than they think. Sometimes it takes being put into new, uncomfortable situations to understand your strength. It also is hard to see your strength until you’ve actually accomplished the tough task. The girls absolutely understood this once they got through the tunnel and they even smiled for the camera man.
Third lesson: Getting out of the water was the moment that they actually felt calm again, and were able to look back at how cool of an experience they were just part of. One of them even said they loved it so much and wish it had lasted longer. I know they were proud of themselves for having snorkelled in the sea of Mexico and couldn’t wait to share the story with their loved ones. We realized that sometimes it takes getting through the tough times and having time to reflect to understand your strength, and that disappointment can lead to learning important life lessons. These faces below are of pride, relief and deep conversations of reflection.
