Lately I have been feeling a little drained, with no motivation to move and do things. Things are not going as planned in Portugal, unnecesary bureaucracy in the migration process, issues getting the Social Security because they invent false mistakes to deny your applications, issues getting a job too. I am feeling overwhelmed and with a big urge of assistance. I feel that the only thing is left to do is to let go and wait for the Universe help.

When I was living at El Paredon Beach in Guatemala, I met a surfer guy, and we agreed on going on a surfing date. I loved the idea since I was learning how to surf back then. We went to surf around 1 hour before sunset started, and right after surfing, we sat at the shore, and he smoked one cigarette and asked me if I wanted one, but I politely said no about it. Right after the cigarette, he asked me, Should we go for the last swim? and I agreed without thinking.

When we got into the water, the sun was already starting to hide, but I was not really paying attention to that. Suddenly, I started to feel that I was not that close to the shore anymore, and I noticed that the town was almost beyond my sight. My immediate reaction was to try to get back, but it was not possible since I was trapped in a riptide without even noticing.

Adding to the middle of the story, during pandemics, I was taking swimming lessons in a semi-olympic pool, and I was improving a lot. I was able to swim in pools and even in the ocean (when low tide), but I do not possess the ability to swim on high tides, and even less when trapped on a riptide.

The only reason I did not panic, I think, is that I was with a guy from the USA, and so far I know they swim very professionally. So calmly, I told him, Hi, I was wondering if you could help me get out; I feel that this is beyond my swimming abilities,and he asked me, You don´t know how to swim? and I responded shortly, Mmm, no.” He just looked at me with a concerned face and told me,We are screwed. Right after he said that the tide got worse, the waves started to fall upon us, and I began to be submerged in the water.

He immediately started to try to keep me on top by going under the water and pushing me out, but it was the only thing he could do since he told me, yelling, I know how to get out myself, but I am not a lifeguard, and I don’t have the training to help you out. He soon realised that his action was not helping me; the waves were taking me down and his pushes were just making me feel more unsafe, so he added, Remember that you can flout and he let go of me.

I found the strength to not get into a panicking state, and I was just thinking, David, you are on your own now; you have to apply everything you have learned in your life no matter what, but I did not know exactly what to apply at that moment, so I was just doing what he reminded me: remember that you can flout. Therefore, with each wave pushing me down, I found a way to get back up on my own. I remembered that I was thinking, How did I end up in this situation? I wish I could just have a helicopter right now, or I wish that I could fly to leave this uncomfortable situation.

The time continued passing, and when we did not even realise the sun was already gone, the only light we were still receiving were the last traces of the sun. That is when a Norwegian guy saw us still in the water at those late hours, so he thought that we might be in danger or that we were just professional swimmers defying the laws.

So he approached to us with his soft-top board and asked us, Do you guys need help?” Of course we both said yes, yes, please. The guy I was on a date with told the Norwegian guy that I needed help. Immediately, the Norwegian gave me his leash and wrapped it up on my leg, and we shared half of the soft top board. The US guy just swam to the shore and asked for help from Guatemalan people passing by. While that was happening, we were still struggling to get back to the shore, and we started to yell for help.

Long story short, some people at the shore advised us of where to swim to catch a beach break, and we came out safely. Now here is the reason why I brought up this story. There are times that you feel that you can´t swim back to the shore, times when you feel that you have given it all but still is not enough, I understood also that sometimes the only solution is to hold in there, apply techniques that keep you alive and wait until the help comes and rescue you.

There are many kinds of people. I can identify some kinds that match this topic: the swimmers that can swim out of riptides, the swimmers that can’t swim deep waters but can keep themselves floating, the ones that can’t swim at all and the ones that have the knowledge to swim but instead they panic and finally perish. 

Do not despair; help will come.

Written on January 15th, 2024