Today was my very very first day in the pool with my instructor. Technically, classes don't start until next week but since I had time, he took me in, we worked on clearing the mask and he got me breathing at the bottom of the shallow end with the scuba gear.
Everytime we started crawling towards the deep end, I panicked. My breathing went crazy (he said I would breath 3 times for every 1 breath he took). Since I left the pool, I keep saying that it'll get easier and that i'm sure the panic is normal, but I'm freaked out.
Silya, your post sounds like what I would've posted re: my first pool experience! I was terrified of learning to scuba, almost had a panic attack when i had to do the giant stride. I'm 59 years old and literally willed myself into learning to dive b/c my husband wanted to do it.
My dive master took extraordinary time, literally held my hand in the POOL! He said I could come back into the pool as many times as it took to get comfortable. I went back for 3 weekends of training, and by the last day I was playing catch with other trainees in the deep end.
You can overcome your emotions by telling yourself you can and will learn. I went to youtube the night before my open water dive and watched a video on mask clearing at least 20 times. That was the final skill I had to master in order to get my cert. When the time came, I closed my eyes and played that video in my head, and successfully cleared my mask (took it off, put it back on, cleared it.)
YOU CAN DO THIS! And you'll be very proud of yourself after you've mastered your fears. I know, as I did it.