Friday, May 27, 2011

Just do it!

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do."    Eleanor Roosevelt


Over a fifteen year period of my life, I was a dutiful mother and enrolled my children in swimming lessons. As I watched them swim, out of the corner of my eye I would be secretly envying the parents who were lap swimming during their child’s lesson. I wasn’t afraid of water, in fact, I loved hanging out at the pool, but I couldn’t go under the water without plugging my nose. I would use my glasses as an excuse to not to have to dunk my head. As I began doing running races, I thought how great it would be to do a triathlon. Two years ago, I finally decided I would allow myself a little embarrassment and enrolled in an adult swimming class. Let me just say that swimming is really hard. I now love to swim, and I am mad that I didn’t do this earlier in life. After reaching a certain age, we often think that it is too late to learn a new skill or habit. The saddest part is how often our insecurities or embarrassment hold us back from achieving. I can now proudly check triathlon off my bucket list. I came in 422 out of over 900 participants, but it really wouldn’t have mattered if I came in dead last, because for me it wasn’t about competing but finishing.

2 comments:

Ashlee, Justin, & Owen said...

GO MOM! NICE JOB!

Vindya Narsian-Krishnan said...

Thank you for sharing your experience. I have been holding myself back from learning to swim as well and well now I just will go and find a swimming class near me :)