Learning to swim aged 30: I conquered this fear to inspire my daughter

As you may or may not recall, earlier this year I set about addressing something of a life anomaly; reaching adulthood without being able to swim.

As it turns out I was not alone. More than nine million over-14s in England find themselves in the same leaky boat. And I imagine for many the reasons are the same as mine. My parents were non-swimmers and thus the cycle continued.

• MORE: Lesson 1 - Taking the plunge

• MORE: Lesson 2 - Into the open pool

• MORE: Lesson 3 - Why swimming is like watching Game of Thrones

So why take the plunge now I hear you ask? Well, aside from reaching the early mid-life crisis point of 30 where you start to look back as much as forward, a driving motivation has been to prevent my irrational fear passing on to my five-year-old daughter.

So there I was on a breezy morning in May outside of Walsall's Village Hotel Club anxiously thinking 'why on earth have I decided to do this again?'

But, thankfully, I have had the superb tuition of Swimtime instructor Heather Ratcliffe guiding my flailing arms stoke by stroke.

Within minutes of my first lesson I had conquered my two main fears; submerging my face in the water and opening my eyes.

It may sound like such a simple feat, but after years of letting the fear grow from a ripple to a wave, seeing the distorted floor of the swimming pool through my goggles was like peering into a brave new world. My anxiety has drifted away drip by drip ever since. From then on it has been about learning the techniques of moving through the water. But what I failed to comprehend until now is that swimming is perhaps the most demanding physical activity there is.

Think about it; for the standard crawl your legs are kicking away frantically, both your arms are semi-rotating around your shoulders while your face is choosing the right moment to pop up for a gasp of air. I have to admit after conquering my mental barrier I thought the rest would be plain sailing. Wrong.

Despite being relatively sporty I have found it genuinely challenging, especially being something of a hopeless multi-tasker.

But one-by-one Heather has helped me break down these separate techniques and merge them into one coordinated movement. I soon set myself the goal of managing a length of the pool. That may seem like a drop in the ocean to proficient swimmers, but to someone who gets nervous at an over-full bath the 25 metres of the Village pool was a daunting task.

The first few lessons went great and each time I felt I had made tangible progress. But before long I hit a barrier where it wasn't about learning new techniques but simply getting better at the ones I had been taught.

At this point frustration set in. The initial buzz of early success had gone and the only way to get from A to B was through trial, error and sheer perseverance. By the time I reached my seventh 30-minute lesson I was comfortably managing half a length. By kicking off from the side, gliding through the water and thrashing my arms 12 to 13 metres went by in a flash. But the major hurdle has been timing my breathing. Too many times I fell into the trap of holding my breath under water without exhaling or mistiming my gasp and swallowing water bringing that particular attempt to an abrupt and spluttery halt.

But then a breakthrough. I pushed off from the side at such a streamlined stretch my body glided an extra foot or so than usual.

Composing myself I quickly exhaled and began to kick my legs, angling my feet so they pushed the water away. At the same time my arms began to rotate. Subconsciously I kept my fingers together and straight so they pulled me through the water. Another couple of twists of my head for air and I was beyond half-way. This was it. It was my chance to reach my target.

The rest was pure siege mode but with a last desperate stretch of my arm I grasped the opposite end of the poolside. I had done it!

To be honest, I was too breathless to celebrate wildly but nevertheless a sweet sensation of satisfaction began to envelop my body. Less than four hours of tuition had eradicated a weight on my shoulders that bore down on me for years.

Thankfully, since my first triumph I have managed to refine my techniques even further. I am not exactly Michael Phelps but I can at least manage a length without requesting the assistance of an aqua lung afterwards. For anyone else who shares the same fear I would say there is no time like the present to take the plunge.