A Complicated Relationship with Water
Experiencing Barriers to Accessing Swimming and Fascination with Water at the Same Time
Jocelyn Bullock is a Speaker, Higher Education Professional, and Agriculture Advocate who I’m so grateful to have connected with last year as we travel this entrepreneurial journey together. While interviewing her about her relationship with water, she shared how her relationship is complicated. She loves some aspects of water and is fascinated by it, and at the same time, touches on the many aspects involving fear and how experiencing barriers to access growing up has made her hesitant to fully develop a loving relationship with water yet.
One of the barriers to learning to swim as a child that Jocelyn mentions in her interview is haircare. As a child, she didn’t want to swim in order to prevent causing her mom to have to do her hair again as it was a multi-step process. At the time, swim caps weren’t available that would fit thicker hair and could have possibly helped with keeping her hair dry and more protected while swimming and thus preventing the necessity of the involved post-swim hair process.
I have heard similar remarks from several of my adult beginner swim clients over the years. For this reason, I’m so grateful that companies like Soul Cap saw this need and addressed it by making larger swim caps to allow for protection from the chlorine often used in pools for all varieties of hair textures and styles. In fact, Soul Cap has agreed to provide caps as a sponsor of our upcoming Water & Well-Being Adult Beginner Swim Retreat! I am so thankful they agreed to partner with us in helping more adults access swimming.
I appreciate Jocelyn sharing so candidly and bringing up such important topics to consider and include in order to get a full picture of the various types of relationships and experiences with water and swimming. View her story below!