I Jumped into the Deep End of a Pool And Nearly Drowned

I went to a pool party in 5th grade that turned into my first emergency helicopter flight, my first ambulance ride, and my first CPR experience. I remember it so clearly.

source

I was ten years old. After I got an invite to the coolest kid at school’s pool party, it didn’t matter whether or not I could swim — I was going. Excitedly, I told my little brother Isaiah, and we made sure that our bright orange arm floaties and swim trunks were ready for the big day.

In addition to a backyard pool infested with 30 ten year olds, the pool party was complete with a bouncy house in the front yard. We were a group of kids with limited attention spans, and so we moved fluidly between the two party attractions.

A kid’s dream

At the time, my brother and I could not swim but we found snorkeling googles that protected our eyes and noses, and we waded in the shallow area. But we wanted more; most of the other kids were jumping off of the diving board and having a blast. My brother ventured a little too far towards the deep end, and he got stuck and started calling for help. Fortunately, I was taller than him and I managed to pull him back to safety. I was proud that I saved him from potentially drowning, and with my renewed confidence I made up my mind that I would jump into the deep end that day.

To avoid embarrassment, I waited for everyone to migrate to the bouncy house in the front. I collected my nerves while making sure that my trusty face-goggles were tightly secured to my head. I went over to the diving board, checked the mask once more, and took a deep breath. Then I jumped.

As soon as I got in, water started leaking into the face-goggles. So much for that. I could not swim, but I tried my best to thrash at the top of the pool and to get my head above the water to shout for help. Desperation had fully set in by this point, and I ripped off the useless face-mask in my frenzy. Before sinking to the bottom, the last thing I remember was the taste of chlorine in my nose and mouth and the blurred image of the sun under the surface of the water.

Thankfully, my calls for help were somehow heard and one of my brave classmates dived into the pool and pulled me up from the bottom. Still unconscious, I received CPR from one of the trained parents at the event, and I was rushed to a hospital via an emergency helicopter and an ambulance. I turned out okay, and I am incredibly thankful for my brave classmate and for the parents there that knew exactly what to do.

How this applies to my Resolutions for 2018

To this day, not many of my classmates remember this huge and scary mistake. Instead, they remember the good memories — the fun and exciting parts of our childhood like the class trip to the New Jersey Cranberry Bogs or the school-wide Lip Dub Video that amassed over 50,000 views. This echoes well with the sentiment popularized by Vinod Khosla during his talk:

“Failure doesn’t matter. Success matters.”

The risk I took jumping into a pool with nobody around was incredibly stupid, but I survived. The near-death experience taught me an invaluable lesson — that fitting in with others is not important and that it can be harmful to my aspirations. Perhaps if I did not venture to take that risk, I would not have learned this lesson.

I have continued to live with this principle over my life, and I hope to continue living this way. In 2018, I want to continue my learning by taking on new risks and venturing into unexplored parts of life. I encourage others to join me in putting ourselves in positions to optimize our goals and our growth, no matter how uncomfortable.

So would I jump into the deep end of the pool again? Unquestionably.

————————————————————————————————

Share this with a friend who can’t swim!