[Beginner Help] Struggling With Hand Movement & Breathing – Need Advice!

Hey everyone, I'm 25M and new to swimming. I joined coaching 15 days ago to learn from scratch. Right now, I'm stuck on the hand movement part. In the beginning, my coach told me to move my hands like a dog (doggy paddle style), and I’ve been trying that for the last 5 days. But I keep running into this issue: When I lift my head to breathe, I lose balance. My upper body starts sinking, my legs stop kicking, and water gets into my mouth and nose. I panic and stop swimming completely. I’ve been stuck at this same spot for days and can’t seem to improve. Some other context: I can move forward using a kickboard and just kicking. I’m not yet comfortable opening my eyes underwater — should I start doing that? Also, I came up with a rough plan in my head for how to learn swimming step by step (attached as an image). Should I follow that? Or is there a better progression I should stick to? Would love any advice from people who've gone through this or from coaches here. Thanks in advance! submitted by /u/Zestyclose-Bison-955 [link] [comments]