How do you stop looping after awkward social confrontation?
I started swimming in March and absolutely love it, but I’ve already had a few awkward run-ins and I’m struggling not to replay them afterward.
The main issue has been one woman who swims diagonally, doesn’t look where she’s going, refuses goggles, and constantly collides with people. The lifeguards are always warning her, but she ignores them. I actually stopped going to one session because swimming near her was stressful, she’d swam into me in the deep end and just swam off. I did shout over to the lifeguard because the touching and kicking and then colliding was too much.
Today at another session I stayed well out of her way, but she still managed to drift across several swimmers eventually and hit me in the head hard enough to stop me mid-swim. This was after she’d already been spoken to multiple times that session. I ended up calling over to the lifeguard because I was shocked and frustrated, and then felt embarrassed because the whole pool looked.
The lifeguard was very understanding and other swimmers later said she frustrates everyone, but I still keep looping on whether I “caused a scene” even though I know being repeatedly hit/touched in a pool isn’t normal. I’m not open with my diagnosis but it is also a big sensory issue for me.
I also had another incident where a woman literally stood in front of me in an empty pool then called the lifeguard over and framed it like I’d told her to move when I hadn’t. Usually I’d just move but that time I’d paid for a class and was in a spot near to the instructors which is why I politely explained I was swimming there intentionally.
I get people can be strange. And I think because I’m quiet and conflict-avoidant, these interactions really stick with me. How do you stop replaying this stuff in your head and just go about your business again?