A year ago I happened on a group of swimmers who embrace our local Mystic Lake as a year-round sanctuary. I swam as a kid, but have only been swimming in pools for the past few years. I was terrified about swimming across a whole huge, unfamiliar lake. I started slow, and the fear dissipated. Now I swim about a mile every other day, in the beautiful, mostly clean waters of the Upper Mystic. Fears can be conquered.