My story in Water/Vedessä, part 2

When Life Pushed Me Ashore

If the first part of my story was about how water entered my life, this part is about how life sometimes carried me away from it and how I eventually found my way back. Water had been my safe haven since childhood, but during my teenage years, it slipped into the background for a while. There was so much new happening, and the symptoms of Menière’s disease made it difficult to continue any regular hobbies. Water didn’t disappear, but it grew quiet.

When Water Faded, and Youth Began

Stopping synchronized swimming left a space in me. It was the first time I had to let go of something that truly felt like mine. I was young and focused on everything that comes with adolescence. Water stayed in the background, but it never left completely. It waited.

Then life brought something new into my path, something that changed my direction.

My First Return and the Spark of Teaching

I read in the newspaper that a new swimming hall was being built in my hometown and that a new swimming club was being formed. Something inside me lit up. Maybe I could return to the water, but in a different way than before. I applied for swim instructor training and was accepted. I was allowed to complete the courses even before the official qualification age, since you can only receive the certification at eighteen. I first taught with a partner and later also on my own.

Teaching felt right from the very beginning. It was calm, gentle, and meaningful. And most importantly, my father supported me. He had been involved in club activities when he was young and encouraged me to follow a similar path. It meant a lot that he saw me finding my place in the water again, in a new way.

I didn’t know then how precious those moments would become.

💔 A Grief That Stopped Everything

The following year I received devastating news. My father died in a car accident. The world stopped. Everything that had felt clear and right suddenly became heavy and distant. I couldn’t continue teaching. I took a break because I didn’t have the strength to be in the water or in front of people. Grief drained everything from me.

But even though water slipped into the background again, it didn’t disappear. It waited for me, just as it always had.

Studies and Working Life

As time went on, life carried me forward. I studied, completed internships and searched for stable work. It wasn’t easy to find. I graduated as an IT technician and continued straight into business administration studies. I started working for the city, but at the same time I taught occasional courses and took lifeguard shifts in my home municipality. It helped fund my studies and brought a familiar rhythm into my life.

I also worked in the company my father had left behind during school holidays, until we eventually sold the business. Looking back, that may have been where I first learned what entrepreneurship really means — taking responsibility and doing things in your own way.

🌊 A Second Return and Falling in Love with Teaching Adults

When I began teaching adults for the city, something clicked. Working with adults opened a completely new world for me. Their stories, fears, and courage touched me deeply. I realised that teaching can be so much more than teaching technique. It can be about meeting people, listening to them, and creating a sense of safety.

Even though life pulled me in many directions and my day jobs felt heavy at times, teaching was always there in the background. It was like a thin but unbreakable thread. Every time I returned to the pool, I felt like I could breathe again. I received wonderful feedback and saw people learn, grow, and move forward. It brought me joy and helped me forget my own struggles, even for a moment.

Teaching adults, especially, kept me afloat during the deepest waves of exhaustion. Working with them was a counterbalance to everything that drained me elsewhere. Where desk work took my energy and grounding, teaching gave it back. It reminded me that I can meet people where they are and help them overcome their fears.

This realisation stayed with me. It followed me even when work life once again pulled me away from the water. I studied more, changed jobs, and kept searching for my place. Nothing felt quite right, and eventually I burned out. Late,r I learned that ADHD had been part of the picture all along, explaining far more than I had understood.

When I burned out, only one thing remained that never drained me. Water. And teaching.

🌤️ Toward Something New and Toward Myself

This is where Part 2 ends. At the moment when I began to understand that water is not just a part of my life. It is part of me. In the next part, I will return to the harshness of desk work and the exhaustion that eventually led me to resign. I will share why I thought lifeguarding would be an easier path, why it wasn’t, and how relieved I was when I finally got my own classes back last autumn. Through these experiences, I eventually chose adult swim teaching and began shaping Vedessä into work that truly reflects who I am.