I’ve always imagined myself swimming. Like damn, I would make a good swimmer I thought.

An opportunity came one Christmas. I followed Kevin and John to NTA, it got boring, we had time and my neighbors suggested we go to M-House”. Soon as I heard M-house, I went hyper, Kevin agreed we should go. I was so excited to see a pool for the first time.

We got there and it was an amazing sight to behold. Few minutes later, someone handed me a ticket to get in for a swim. I snatched that ticket like a thief on steroids.

Went to the locker room, changed and I jumped in.

It was cold.

The pool was a large one, it was measured in feet (ft.3 – ft.9). Feat 3 was shallow, for kids basically.Feat 9 was the deepest and it had a ledge for jumping off and stunts. The other kids in ft.3 sabi rough play sha o. I somehow got involved in their push me I push you game. Rough play carry me go ft. 5, I almost drowned.

It was cool watching the adult freestyle with the ledge. One of the guys who couldn’t swim was made fun of. “Go and join the children in Ft.3 his friends jested. I don’t know what drove him to climb the ladder up the ledge. He jumped and landed on his stomach face flat, there was a loud crash and silence. Next thing we knew, hands went flying out frantically. Danger signs everywhere. A dozen people jumped into the pool to save him. It was like a scene from Sharkboy and lavagirl. He was rescued; he kept spitting water from his mouth. I don’t think he would ever near a pool again. That was just the sign and I needed to dash out of the pool, homewards. I went home dripping wet. Sharply, I enter house go change clothes before my mum would notice. If she heard we went swimming, she would skin us alive.

It got me thinking.

Life is a process, you learn then you advance. Ft. 3 is your starting point, as you grow in the skill, you advance to the next level until you reach the highest peak, ft.9. Most time, people lack the patience and diligence to mastering a level and decide, “I don’t need it, I’m going to advanced.” I had a gym and fitness app once. It said, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced level. I clicked Advanced, two days in and I gave up cause the  skipping a level could be detrimental; like the guy who skipped beginners and went to Ft.9, he wasn’t ready. We end up in drowning in deep waters. Build capacity first before you leap in.

Ravi  Vashi Meshlani, we must first learn to crawl, then stand, then walk, then run and only then, fly. We cannot crawl into flying”

Life is a school and there is no skipping class. Go through the process, grow from the process and enjoy the process. shalom.