After numerous swimming lessons and countless self-teachings, I still struggled with swimming. But, this all changed on a trip to Costa Rica. On this service-based trip, we were given a break from the work to go surfing. When I heard about this event, my body was in shock, because I knew my swimming capabilities were subpar. And looking upon the Costa Rican ocean, it showed no mercy for beginners. The surfing instructors continuously reassured me that I would be ok, especially with a flotation device hooked to my wrist. After a presentation of safety precautions was taught on land, they proceeded to teach us the basics of surfing in the shallow end of the ocean. Afterwards, we were then figuratively thrown into the persistent, rampaging waves. At first, I was completely scared for my life because the board was huge and incredibly hard to grip in the water. But after a very long self-talk, and a slight push from the instructor, I tried to ride my first wave. It ended in me falling and panicking trying to figure out how to get back to the floating position. I was able to get back on my board and regroup. During this internal regroup session with myself, I was able to gather that falling wasn’t actually that bad. It also showed me that making mistakes was somewhat, exhilarating. So, I tried again. It wasn’t a success either, but I felt improvement. I kept trying and failing, over and over, until I successfully rode my first big wave. All the while, I was confidently swimming without realizing, because I was so focused on learning how to surf. In the end, I not only learned how to surf but also how to finally confidently swim on my own.