Swimming

Life is as if we are dropped off in water with little direction. When we get in the water, some may feel like they know where they want to go right from the start. Some of us just go where our parents tell us to go. Some of us just try to do the opposite of our parents. Some of us are afforded swimming lessons and some of us are not. You can read about swimming all you want, but there’s still no better teacher than just swimming. 

When it comes to swimming styles - some of us are just treading, some of us put our heads down and start swimming as hard as we can, some of us go belly up and float, and some of us feel like we’re drowning.

Life is like the current. We can’t control it. Sometimes it pulls us closer to our objective and other times it pulls us off course. The current is going to impact you whether you're treading, swimming, floating, or drowning. 

If you’re struggling to swim, continuing to swim the same way isn’t going to make it any easier. If you’re swimming in the wrong direction, the right answer is to change course. Swimming harder in the wrong direction will never get you where you want to go.  

There are sharks in the water. It’s rare for them to attack, but we all have stories of rare things happening. Our best stories are when we saw a shark and nothing happened. Our worst stories are when we or our loved ones have a shark attack. If you get attacked by a shark, most of the time, you’re going to have scars and it will change you. 

Some people spend their whole lives trying to avoid sharks. Some people spend their whole lives telling other swimmers about sharks. Generally, you don’t have fun in the water if you’re anxious about sharks the whole time. The longer you live, the more sharks you’ll see. 

If you get lucky, you’ll get a swimming partner that can support you when you get tired or see a shark. Just don’t forget to support them when they get tired too. When you don’t check in on your partner, they may drift away from you, pull farther ahead, or get behind. Check in, and do it often. If you both stop swimming, you’ll both get out of shape. If your destinations aren’t the same, it’s ok to let your old partners swim towards their own. 

If you married your swimming partner, you’ve both probably been swimming for a while. If their swimming style isn’t the same as yours, that's ok. If their swimming style sucks, you can try to gently suggest a change. They probably won’t listen to you because they’ve noticed every flaw in your stroke as well. Be thankful someone decided to swim next to you for the rest of your life. Not everyone gets that opportunity. 

If you get unlucky, you’ll get a swimming partner who will weigh you down. They may lead you in the wrong direction. They might even just pull you under the water. They may even take half of your swimming gear when you decide to depart. Pray and think about who you choose to swim with. If things go horribly wrong, there are other people out there who you can swim with. 

If you just give your kids a raft and never teach them to swim, when that raft deflates, they’ll drown. Teaching them to swim will help more than anything else. It may allow them to reach the final destination, even if you never get there in your lifetime. If you don’t know how to swim, introducing them to the best swim instructor you know will do better than giving them the fanciest swim trunks. 

When we’re stressed sometimes, we stop swimming and just float. We all need to float from time to time. It’s important to look back towards the start and see how far we’ve gone. It’s important to look ahead and see where we want to go. Looking back or looking forward, won’t get you any closer to where you want to be. 

Sometimes we choose to swim harder to try to get to the destination faster. Be careful swimming harder because you might look up and realize you’ve been swimming in a direction you don’t want to go. Sometimes when we reach a destination, we feel joy. Sometimes we feel misery. Sometimes we think, what was the point of all that swimming? Sometimes we elect to get back in the water. 

You’re in the water, so it’s probably a good idea to learn to swim. If you’re a strong swimmer, teach those who ask how to swim. If they don’t ask, just teach them by being a strong swimmer. Every now and then, pull your head out of the water to make sure you’re swimming in the direction you want your life to go.