Edel Coffey: Learning as an adult and trusting the process

"It’s a little embarrassing learning something new at an age when you feel you should really have mastered certain life skills."

Picture: Bríd O'Donovan

I didn't learn to swim until I was 27. I’ve always had a fear of water, the same with flying, probably because I didn’t really do these things very often — or at all — as a child. And I like having my feet firmly on the ground. I don’t like the feeling of handing over control.

I only learned to swim in my twenties under duress. I had started going on foreign holidays, and was embarrassed as friends cannonballed into pools, or threw each other in, while I sat paddling my legs at the edge.