Dr. Ray Catania was caught in an undertow as a 10-year-old and panicking in the water. A lifeguard told him to calm down and swim sideways instead of fighting the current. That simple instruction saved his life and taught him the power of staying composed under pressure.
Chapters
There was a time when I was 10 years old, and I love the beach, and I love to swim, and I swam out too far into the ocean, and, uh, there was an undertow. You can swim your butt off trying to get to shore, but you're not going to get there because the undertow's pulling you back as you're swimming forward, and you're just stuck in the same place. And I'm waving for the lifeguard, and there's a lot of other kids that he's saving. I don't know what to do. I'm 10. I panic while I'm trying to stay afloat. I hear, calm down, swim sideways, take all the time you need. It's always 3. I'm a kid, I can't calm down. So he does that for me and I calm down and I start swimming on an angle. And it took me a very long time. I took all the time I needed. I swam very slowly and I eventually got to shore.