A couple of years ago, I visited a friend who was working at a rafting and zip line place in Long Creek, South Carolina. It was called Wild Water. He lived there as part of his pay and got to do anything he wanted while not working. A popular pastime was going to the Bull Sluice, as they called it. And it is just a giant river that eventually turns into rapids. So, this was the first time that I was truly face to face with, like, a strong river that I could, you know, swim in. We were swimming in the river, and he did his best talking up this underwater cave that was directly below us. And whenever you went into the cave, the current from the river would shoot you through it. It was, just the size of a person, so it would shoot you through the cave all the way to the other side of the river. And he talked it up a lot. He even showed me multiple times that it worked, and he did it, and I was just super nervous about it. I did not want to get stuck, but finally, I gathered the courage to do it, and so I did, and I got in, and immediately he was right.

The current pulled me. I was going at light speed, and suddenly, I got stuck. And so, whenever I got stuck, all my instincts went directly into my arms, and I just like, ripped myself out of the little area that I was stuck in. I do not think that I would have been there for long because I was not, but I was still terrified because I was worried about getting stuck. But it did help me conquer the fear of that, especially big rivers. I am not as afraid of that anymore.