Learning to Swim: Navigating Trauma and Recovery

Have you ever felt like you were drowning—not in water, but in life's overwhelming challenges? That suffocating feeling when bills, expectations, grief, or addiction seems to pull you under?

Swimming becomes the perfect metaphor for life's journey in this deeply personal exploration of recovery and healing. From childhood trauma at the hands of a well-meaning uncle to the symbolic power of shallow versus deep waters, we dive into what it truly means to stay afloat when life feels overwhelming. The SWIM method—Surrender, Watch, Inquire, Move—offers a practical framework for navigating those moments when you feel like you're going under, transforming this acronym into a life preserver that keeps you from drowning.

We explore how trauma teaches us avoidance rather than resilience, keeping us in life's shallow end—those predictable, comfortable spaces where we feel safe but cannot grow. While shallow waters may temporarily protect us, life inevitably pushes us into deeper currents through unexpected diagnoses, relapses, or loss. It's in these depths where we discover our true strength through courage, community, and consistency. For BIPOC communities, the swimming metaphor extends further into generational patterns that echo through families and cultures, requiring intentional healing in spaces characterized by honesty and compassion.

Recovery isn't about erasing deep-end moments but developing tools to face them with confidence. Through deep breathing exercises, body scanning, and visualization, we can find calm even in chaos. Whether you're personally struggling or supporting someone who is, remember that recovery isn't a sprint—it's a swim. And no one should have to swim alone. Share your story of finding your lifeline when life's waters pulled you under. Your experience could become the encouragement someone else needs to keep swimming.

Share your story with us at [e-mail] 

If you or someone you love is struggling, you are not alone. Here are some resources that can help right now:

• SAMHSA National Helpline – 1-800-662-HELP (4357). Free, 24/7 confidential support for individuals and families.
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline – Dial or text 988 for immediate connection to trained counselors.
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine – 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or text “HELPLINE” to 62640.
• Celebrate Recovery – A faith-based, 12-step recovery community available in many local churches nationwide.
• Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) / Narcotics Anonymous (NA) – Peer support groups that remind us: one day at a time is enough.

Episode Transcript

Jermine Alberty (00:05):
I'm your host, Jermine Alberty, and today we're
diving into a conversation thatis both symbolic and deeply
personal learning to swim.
I don't just mean swimming inwater, but swimming through the
waves of life, throughchallenges, fears and trauma.
And this episode is especiallytimely because September is

(00:26):
National Recovery AwarenessMonth.
Every September, communitiesacross the country come together
to remind us that recovery ispossible and healing is real,
and no one has to walk thejourney alone.
It's about lifting up storiesof resilience and celebrating
progress and creating spaceswhere support is accessible and

(00:48):
stigma is broken down, and so,as you listen today, I want you
to think about what the shallowand deep parts of life means for
you, and how recovery can bethat stroke that keeps us afloat
when life feels overwhelming.
This is Jermaine Alberti, andyou're listening to the Salt

(01:08):
Talk.
Well, let's start withsomething practical.
So many of us know the feelingof drowning, not in water, but
in bills, in expectations, ingrief or even in addiction, and
that suffocating sense of Ican't breathe.

(01:30):
So you know I love acronyms,and so I wanted to create a
acronym that would help usnavigate those moments, and that
acronym is SWIM, s-w-i M.
So what does SWIM stand for?
So glad you asked.
The S stands for surrender.
Now what are we surrendering?

(01:53):
Recovery begins with the firststep of admitting.
We have to admit when we can'tdo things alone.
And let me just be really clearthere is humility in asking for
help and there is strength inreaching out for a lifeline.

(02:14):
The W in this realm modelstands for watch.
Sometimes in life we just needto slow down and observe, notice
those things that evokedistress for you, pay attention

(02:36):
to your emotions and your habitswithout judgment.
And I also want you to have anawareness when things turn and
you begin to see those thingsshifting in your life and even
sometimes those unseen currentsinto something that we can name.
So I want for us to haveawareness that turns the unseen

(03:00):
currents into something we canname and even those things that
we can name.
Just be aware of those things,because what that does is it
helps us to be able to do the Iand the SWIM acronym, and that
is to inquire.
You know, we need to startasking ourselves those tough

(03:22):
questions.
Asking ourselves those toughquestions, questions like what
am I running from?
What do I truly need?
And the third question I thinkcan be so very important to us
is really asking ourselves whatfears hold me back from seeking
healing.
Well, there's one more letterin the acronym SWIM, and that is

(03:46):
M, and the M stands for move.
See, it's so very critical thatwe understand that healing
isn't a one-time event.
It's small, sometimesconsistent strokes, and
sometimes those small.
And sometimes those smallconsistent strokes could mean

(04:20):
making a call to a counselor,showing up to a recovery meeting
, opening up to a trusted friendor even just committing to
daily self-care.
So, when you think about SWIM,think about this acronym SWIM as
that life preserver that keepsyou from going under when the
water rise.
You see, this is reallypersonal, because I was recently
in a very special place where Iwas enjoying this pool, special

(04:48):
place where I was enjoying thispool, and the pool was one of
those pools that, when you gotto the very edge of it, you
could look over and see theocean and a beautiful place.
And I couldn't really enjoythat beautiful place because in
its entirety, because in itsentirety because of a childhood
trauma, and I determined, youknow what, when I get back home,

(05:11):
I am going to learn how to swim, which is why this podcast came
about, because I thought aboutman.
How many other folks haveexperienced trauma in their life
and are not able to just swimthrough the challenges of life,

(05:32):
because they learned how tonavigate the waters, but they
never learned how to fully swimin those waters.
And so when I was a kid, myuncle thought the best way to
teach me to swim was to throw meinto the deep end.
And I can still remember thepanic, the gasping, my arms

(05:56):
flailing, the desperate fight tostay above the water.
To this day, he says yeah, Itaught you how to swim.
And I think to myself no, youdidn't.
No, you didn't, because thatmoment left an imprint and
instead of confidence, I learnedfear.
Instead of learning how to swim, I learned how to panic, and

(06:21):
for years, when I go to aswimming pool, I'll do the bare
minimum, you know float aroundthere, try to go on a knee there
, hold my breath, but I stillhaven't got the hang of the
stroke and the feet moving atthe same time.
And how could something that Ilove to do and want to do

(06:44):
symbolize danger?
Something that I love to do andwant to do symbolize danger.
You know, even as an adult, Ifound myself in that very
beautiful place, sticking aroundthe shallow parts of the pool
which felt safe, where my feetcould touch the bottom.
But when you do that, Idiscovered that I was limiting

(07:04):
myself from enjoying the deepend.
Isn't that how life can be?
Trauma throws us into the deepend.
Instead of learning resilience,we sometimes learn avoidance
and we stay in those shallowplaces and sometimes, my friends
that could be jobs,relationships, routines we stay

(07:28):
in them because we feel safe,even when they don't allow us to
grow, and so what recovery hastaught me is that healing is
about gradually entering thedeep again is about gradually
entering the deep again, butthis time with support, with

(07:50):
skills and trust in the process.
So I want to shift to talk aboutshallow versus deep parts of
life.
You know, when you think aboutlife, shallow waters,
predictable, easy, comfortablethose three words are words that

(08:10):
probably sound familiar formany of you.
You only do what's predictable,you only do what's easy, you
only do what's comfortable.
We're going to call thoseshallow waters those are shallow
waters, because those aremoments when you feel as if you

(08:30):
can control those things.
Yeah, that's predictable, Iknow about that.
Yeah, I can do that.
That's easy.
Oh, that's comfortable.
Those are shallow waters.
Those are shallow waters.
Those are those moments wheneverything feels like once again
, it's in control.
But let me be clear again Lifedoesn't let us stay in the

(08:57):
shallow waters forever.
Sooner or later, we are pushedinto the deep.
The unexpected diagnosis, therelapse, the loss of a loved one
, the weight or anxiety ofdepression, those are some deep
waters, and those deep waterstest us.
And so here's the thing whilethe shadow keeps us safe, the

(09:25):
deep is where we discover ourstrength.
You see, my friends, I havelearned that it's in the deep
where we learn resilience, whereour faith is tested and where
recovery becomes more than aword.
It becomes a lived experience.

(09:47):
See, recovery doesn't deny thedeep waters, but what it does is
it teaches us how to float inthem.
And there are three things thatI want you to embrace.
They all start with C, by theway Courage, community and

(10:10):
consistency.
I'm going to say that one moretime Courage, community and
consistency All three of thesewords that begin with the letter
C are all working together tobring us back to the surface.

(10:30):
When you feel like you'redrowning, just cling on to
courage.
When you feel like you'redrowning, just cling on to your
community.
When you feel like you'redrowning, just consistently keep
coming up for air.
Well, my friends, I I want toswitch gears and talk about a

(10:55):
little deeper, because sometimes, when you are in BIPOC
communities BIPOC stands forBlack, indigenous and people of
color Sometimes, when you're inBIPOC communities where you have
had generational trauma,sometimes what you are
experiencing is not just fromyour lived experience, but could

(11:20):
be from the experience of yourancestors, the experience of
your ancestors.
So, to go deeper, I think of DrJoy DeGruy's work on
post-traumatic slave syndrome.
In her work she helps us to seethat trauma doesn't just live

(11:45):
in individuals, but that it canecho through families and
cultures and even generations.
So this is why it's soimportant that we acknowledge
that pain isn't weakness.
It's the first step towardbreaking cycles, and this is why
I often say that I don'tbelieve in generational curses.

(12:09):
I believe in generationalpatterns.
Whenever we embrace the factthat we have somehow been cursed
by something or someone, thenthe question becomes then who
alleviates the curse?
Who breaks the curse?
Who gets rid of the curse?

(12:31):
When we acknowledge that, yes,slavery is a curse, it sure is.
When we acknowledge thosehardships that our families have
endured, whether it be throughdifferent traumas that have been
passed on, whether it'sbeatings and molestations and

(12:53):
all kinds of things that's justbeen passed down generation
after generation.
Here's the thing about it.
Yes, those things can feel likea curse, but I want to be clear
about this.
Those are patterns of behaviorsthat can be broken, and we
spend our life learning andunlearning, learning and

(13:15):
unlearning.
And we need to break somecycles.
We need to break some patterns.
And so she reminds us thathealing must happen in safe
spaces.
And what needs to be in thosesafe places?
Well, the first thing ishonesty, second thing is

(13:35):
community and the third thing iscompassion.
And so we need to create spaceswhere folks can one feel safe,
where they can speak honest andwhere those there can express
kindness and compassion.

(13:56):
You see, recovery works thesame way.
Whether you're recovering fromaddiction, mental illness, grief
, trauma, your healing doesn'thave to happen in isolation,
just like in swimming.
Nobody learns well when they'releft to sink alone.
We need lifeguards, we needteachers, we need community.

(14:23):
Can you imagine what wouldhappen when we come together and
be lifeguards one for the other?
When you see your sister, whenyou see your brother drowning,
that you don't just turn andlook the other way but you say,

(14:44):
hey, are you okay and you jumpinto the deep where they are and
you get them to safety.
Well, I want to hear your voicein this conversation and I want
to share some stories with usTimes when you felt like you
were drowning and how you foundyour way back up.

(15:07):
And so here's a prompt Think ofa time you felt pulled under by
life's deep waters.
Who or what was your lifeline?
Let me tell you something yourstory could become the
encouragement someone else needsto keep swimming, and I want to

(15:31):
invite you to share thosestories with us, because I would
love just to hear from you.
But I want you to once againthink of a time that you felt
poured under by life's deepwaters.
Think about who or what wasyour lifeline.

(15:52):
Well, as we come to a conclusionof this podcast, I want to take
a moment to practice together,and the first thing I want to do
is I want to do some deepbreathing.
So I want to invite you toinhale through your nose and
hold and then exhale throughyour mouth and imagine each

(16:15):
breath as a stroke keeping youafloat.
Let's do that.
Come on, let's stop Really.
Let's stop.
Take a moment to deep breathe.
So we're going to inhalethrough our nose and we're going
to hold that, and then we'regoing to exhale through our

(16:39):
mouths and we're going to dothat as many times as we need to
, imagining each breath as astroke, keeping your flow.
Secondly, I want you to do abody scan.
I want you to release tensionin your body.
I want you to feel the water ofpeace rising around you.
So just take a moment to justrelease that tension in your

(17:03):
body.
Hmm, that feels good.
That feels really good.
And the third thing I want youto do is I want you to visualize
the swim model.
Put yourself in some water, andI want you to just surrender to
that moment.

(17:23):
I want you to watch youremotions just float by.
I want you to inquire aboutyour fears and I want you to
move with steady, strong strokestoward recovery.
My friends, doing those threethings can help us, can remind

(17:50):
us that even in cost, we canfind calm.
So think about that again Deepbreathe, body scan, visualize,
swim.
Even in chaos, we can find calm.
Well, maya Angelou said youcannot control all the events

(18:14):
that happen to you, but you cancontrol your attitude towards
them.
And recovery doesn't erase thedeep end moments, but it gives
us the tools to face them.
Well, as we close, remember,september is Recovery Awareness
Month and recovery isn't justabout surviving, it's about

(18:35):
thriving.
It's about moving from fear tofreedom, from drowning to
swimming.
If you or someone you love isstruggling, you are not alone.
And here are some resourcesthat can help you.
Right now, samhsa has anational helpline that is
1-800-662-HELP, that's 4357.

(18:57):
Once again, sam says NationalHelpline is 1-800-662-HELP,
that's 4357.
It's free, it's 24-7.
It's confidential and it offerssupports for individuals and
families.
And then don't forget about988-SUICIDE and Crisis Lifeline.
You can dial or text 988 forimmediate connection to trained

(19:20):
counselors.
Also, the National Alliance onMental Illness, also known as
NAMI, has a helpline.
That helpline is 1-800-950-NAMIor 1-800-950-6264, or just text
HELPLINE to 62640.

(19:40):
There's also Celebrate Recovery, which is a faith-based 12-step
recovery community available inmany local churches nationwide.
And last but not least, thereis Alcohol Anonymous, aa, or
Narcotic Anonymous, na, whichoffer peer support.
Groups that remind us one dayat a time is enough.

(20:01):
Well, I want to thank you somuch for spending time with me
on the Salt Talk.
And recovery is not a sprint,it's a swim.
So step into the water, trustthe process and remember you are
never swimming alone.
This is Jermine Alberty, andyou've been listening to the

(20:21):
Salt Topic.