To say 'I can swim'

I can swim in fact and I can ensure I do not drown either, even in the open sea or a lake. I've swam a triathlon in a lake and I've snorkelled and swam around in seas around the world. Neither were much of a problem.

I have no trouble swimming and I can paddle around without looking like an idiot more than most of the time.

But what I really want is to be able to tell others with truth in my words that 'I can swim'. I want to feel sure that I'm a good swimmer. How can I judge that I am a good swimmer? Perhaps when someone else tells me I am or perhaps when a ticker goes off in my head and says, yeah you're good enough.

I swam early this morning and loved every second. The bi-lateral breathing is coming along nicely and I longer have the slight of fear, no, awkwardness that happens when I put my face in the water and gargle or snort the local municipals finest.

So that's another life goal, to say to myself and others that I can swim and really mean it.