Personal Essay Sample: How Swimming in My Childhood Impacted Me

A life-changing experience happened in my childhood life when I went swimming one day and came dangerously close to drowning but by good luck, a good Samaritan rescued me and administered first aid. I always felt intrigued to learn how to swim in the deep end of a swimming pool. The swimming pool in my neighborhood was where I spent every Sunday afternoon after church with my pals. Sometimes my mom would always accompany me swimming while she sat beside me and I was around seven years old, it was those memories that shaped my life. An accident can be a once-in-a-lifetime chance in the form of a life-changing experience, as demonstrated by my harrowing tale of drowning. My self-confidence was shaken to the core after experiencing this accident when I was seven years old. ‘If you believe that anything is possible, there are breathtaking adventures in store for you."

My father enrolled me in swim lessons. It was a challenge at first, but I persevered, and my hard work paid off in the end. I improved tremendously as a swimmer. Swimming helped boost my confidence because of the independence I acquired with my improved swim skills at the time. As a child, I had mental issues. I always took a long to respond to questions. I had to think for quite some time. Water being a place for social interactions for humans, swimming can improve social skills. To this day I feel like swimming gave me a chance to develop my social skills. Swimming as a child helps me develop valuable life skills to prevent dangerous drowning. I once experienced a dangerous drowning of myself. A local pool is where I swim every Saturday or afternoons. Several incidents come to me as I recollect my early experiences. However, before I dive into the pool, I decided to go swimming by myself. With no hesitation, I started to go in as deep as I could go. For whatever purpose, I cannot remember there weren’t any guards around I couldn’t see anybody even my mother. Nonetheless, my body kept going deeper and deeper. Until I had no clue how she worked it out, but an adolescent girl drew me out of the water. I was given first aid after the girl confirmed that I was still alive. I remembered that my mother ran towards me hysterically since I didn’t tell her that I went swimming that day thinking that nothing was going to happen to me. I was gasping and then started bleeding through my nose, so another lady escorted me to the restroom to cleanse my nose while my mother was trying to console me. From this story, I can confidently say that swimming in my childhood taught me to work with others as a team and in turn help others learn as well.

The unnamed girl vanished, never to be recognized after that. Even to this day if I would once again see her, I would have thanked her for saving my life when I was seven years old. It is challenging to convey, but I believe me, I could have certainly perished that afternoon. Nobody would have realized if it wasn’t for that lady. To this day I find it hard to get comfortable swimming in the deep. Every I dare to stay too long in the deep I get these flashback memories of when I drowned. So yes, it can leave scars behind, but it always leaves you with a learning experience out of it. This incident showed me how you must cherish the life that you have. One day you might not be here the next day, so you always got to be kind to others. Cherish those memories that you have with every single person that you have around you since you never know if they’re going to see you again. 

Since then, I have been thankful for others and have ensured my cherished ones recognize how important they matter to me. I have grown up since then, yet my upbringing since educated me as well. Life-saving skills are so important since you might save someone’s life one day as they did to me. I will treasure all my upbringing since it educated me as well as formed me into the kind of person I am currently.