It has been 2 packed months for me, until today. On 27th March, I decided that I should try out a bit of the CCA of Lifesaving. It required me to train in order to pass the Lifesaving 123, CPR and Bronze Medallion tests.
At first I was so reluctant to join, then I started to think if I would actually kick myself for saying "Yes, I'll join Lifesaving", or not. It really reminded me of the movie Tron: Legacy, like getting stuck in a virtual world and dying to get out. So I decided to give it a try anyway since I did my job well during the 42nd Singapore National Age Group (SNAG) Championships, and I thought I should take a 'break' from swimming for once.
The training was quite easy to follow, everything that was taught actually made sense. At first I was not happy at deciding to go through this crash course, I nearly kicked myself for deciding to do this. Because I thought that by doing so, I would lose progress and form in my swimming and it wouldn't be easy getting it back. Deep down I thought it was stupid of me to make that decision to go through this course. But that actually made my swimming coordinator quite happy, cos he's been trying to get me to try it out for once, during the past 2 years in Temasek Polytechnic.
I never thought managing 3 things in one week would be easy. It felt painful for a while, before I got used to it. By then I was starting to think I was losing my swimming form. And my timetable just kept getting busier and busier.
I am so glad that I passed all the tests that I had paid for. I am also glad that the certificates which I have achieved will appear in my portfolio when I graduate. I realised that managing between studies, swimming and lifesaving requires great sacrifice. But now that I have finally found my way out of a stressful lifestyle, it doesn't make any difference from spending longs hours out of the house, if you know what I mean. But my chilling time at home, especially at night will be extended after today, that's the good news!
Coming to the tests, I managed to get past the Lifesaving 123 tests with ease. I was very very lucky to pass the CPR test, screwed up quite badly at the last part: Unconscious Choking. And I finally kept my cool at the BM test. But this does not guarantee that I will want to take up the job as a lifeguard. I have my reasons and I am going to kick myself if I ever say "I WANNA JOIN LIFESAVING THIS TIME!" People around me will be scratching their heads wondering how I'm going to manage 3 activities in one week: Studies, Swimming and Lifesaving.
I must admit that all these require lots of commitment, hence lots of sacrifice. But there are plenty of lessons to learn from managing all these.
To end, I find that this crash course has taught me the basic concepts of saving lives and also what lifeguards must consider before entering water to save casualties. I found out that a lifeguard must keep his own life safe before saving others.
So that's it for my lifesaving reflection. Until the next time I write about new and eventful stuff that happened.
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