The sea touched my scar and nothing terrible happened

Dear Delyara, After severe burns on my legs, I avoided beaches for three years. I could manage shorts at home, but the thought of strangers seeing the scars made my body tighten. My physiotherapist suggested cold-water swimming because movement in water might help, but I refused until a local group offered a private early-morning session. Today, before sunrise, I stood at the edge of the sea in a long robe while six women waited without staring. I removed the robe. The air touched the raised skin first, then the water. It stung. I almost turned back. One woman held out her hand without taking mine. I stepped farther in. We swam for eight minutes. When I came out, my scars were still visible, redder from the cold, and entirely ordinary among wet towels and shivering bodies. I had imagined the sea as another place where I would be watched. Instead, it held every part of me without preference.