2020-07-05
3757期救生員班Grimes, John
When I thought about starting lifeguard training, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it or not, or if I wanted to spend my time doing something else. In the end, I decided to do it. As the training began, I didn’t find it very physically tiring. But as the days went on, I realized the real challenge was about mental strength - showing up everyday, 19 days in a row was more mentally tiring that it was physically tiring. The open water training in the ocean and river proved to be interesting, and highlighted to me the differences between being a lifeguard at a pool as opposed to being a lifeguard at a beach.
Over the course of lifeguard training, I was taught that while there was value in saving another person’s life, my own life mattered more. As I learned the different saving techniques, I realized that while they were easy to execute in training, in a real life scenario they would be much more difficult to accomplish. The only conclusion that I can draw from this is that in the end, I need to make sure that I can save myself before I even think about saving another person.
