“Fear can consume our minds, and control our lives. Thoughts get filled with worried wonderings of “what if,” and inhibit everyday functioning. A fear of drowning pertains to more than just a watery grave. One can drown in fear, be suffocated by paralyzing anxiety. I was inspired quite literally by my grandmother’s fear of water. Throughout her life, she would never take part in teaching her children and grandchildren to swim, or join her family in the lake at the family cottage. Hard pressed to get her into knee deep water, we all wondered what had caused this phobia. In old age, she began to divulge childhood stories that were assumingly repressed by adult memories. Fragments of thoughts came through, describing a creek behind her home, falling in, and being rescued. A memory stored deep in the bowels of her brain, only to surface as an unexplained fear for the entirety of her life. I also deal with my own fears, not quite so literally a fear of water, but I would consider it a fear of drowning. I drown in my own thoughts and introspection, worrying about life and death, and everything in between. The feeling of being alone, where my voice is cut off, and my senses are no longer functional. Anxiety floods all thoughts, leaving only despair and trepidation in its path. Drowning in water is much like drowning in fear, with every breath you feel your lungs filling up with something other than air. Fear can encompass everything until all that is left is the fear itself.”