There's Just Something About Swimming
How did I learn how to swim? At 4 years old (yes, I clearly remember this)
I watched my daddy and some guys dig a BIG hole in our back yard. I played in the
pile of dirt and climbed on big limestone rocks
that were pulled out by my PeePaw’s bulldozer. Once this in-ground pool was completed and a
diving board was in place, my daddy was swimming in the deep-end and I was on
the diving board. He told me to jump in (water-wingless).
Of course, I hesitated while staring at the
drain and quickly said, “That drain is going to suck me in!”
“Jump in, I got you…” was his response. I
jumped in and he didn’t catch me…I swam to the ladder on my own! Guess that’s the determination in me. In fact, there was a time I was so eager to
get into the pool that I forgot to take out my hearing aids and literally
watched my sun-bathing mom dive into the deep end to retrieve my aids. I
remember standing there thinking, “oops” as she was panicking trying to suck
the water out dry with a blow-dryer. I
may have never been on a swim team, but my siblings and I grew up in the water
every summer…pool, lake and ocean. My
parents introduced us to water by dipping us under our first summer after birth.
But for long swims, I trained myself
with a little help from Youtube (and a friend) which
taught me to endure long distance swimming.
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| Leaping in fearlessly... |
Eliminating stress
and worry is important to me. I find worry and stress at school, at home,
in traffic and simply in all of life. There
are times I bottle up a lot of emotions and the feeling becomes overwhelming. I’m trying so hard not to be negative or
express any negative emotions because it can really affect my well-being as
well as others around me. In fact, I’m
reading a book by Norman Vincent Peale called “The Power of Positive Thinking”
that was given to me by my grandparents. It’s and old book but has been a best
seller guiding readers to reach a peaceful mind and experience the power of
positive thinking. Needless to say, I turn to training, journaling, pressing
toward my goals for my sanity. If I’m on
edge or simply moody, my husband will tell me to go run or swim. How sweet, ha!
If you don’t know how to swim, avoid swimming in the winter, or simply have no desire…maybe you should give it a try. However, please put safety first and that is, always consult with a doctor before trying any new physical activity. One safety lesson that has been embedded in my brain is, “never swim alone.” My parents always had the gate locked at our pool when we were kids and as we got older, we were never allowed to be in the pool when no one was home…even if we did know how to swim. When at the public pools, there is and should always be a life guard on hand…now, have FUN!Quote of the Day: There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever. ~Muhatma Gandhi
Bible Verse of the Day: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” ~ Proverbs 3:5
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