One of the requirements to become a SEAL is to swim 50 meters with one breath. This sounds easy enough, with a little practice most people can hold their breath for about 2–2.5 minutes.
Some candidates have passed this evolution by losing consciousness and, thanks to their inertia, ramming head first into the wall of the pool, therefore earning the right not to have to repeat the task.
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Where not “everyone” may feel comfortable is during Phase 2, Pool Competency. This is where most of your hidden primordial fears come to the surface.
Bobbing up and down with your hands and feet tight together doesn’t sound like something you want to try on a pool party. And you shouldn’t.
Another interesting evolution to test your self control is a planned underwater harassment.
Candidates are required to lie face down at the bottom of a 4 meter pool, waiting for a dark angel (instructor in a wetsuit) to dart down on them, flips them upside down, rips the mask off their face, removes the regulator out of their mouth, ties it in a knot to the tank valve and puts them through another couple of spin cycles worth it of a German branded wash machine.
From that moment you are on your own.
Following a pre-determined set of instructions, you should be able to work systematically your way through the problem.
If you re-surface, you fail.
Unless you can prove that it was actually impossible to undo the knot formed by the regulator in the back of your tank, you don’t get a pass.
As the old say goes: the only easy day was yesterday.
