Growth…one step (or stroke) at a time!
It’s been awhile since I have written a blog post, and let me tell you…it’s not because I haven’t had ideas…it’s because I let too many things get in the way, take up my time, and interfere with my ability to balance what I “want” to do, “should” do, and “have” to do. Today, however, I had a last minute change of plans and decided to sit down and write!
If you know me, you know that exercise, movement, taking care of my body, mind and spirit, are all incredibly important to me. That said, there are times I “ebb and flow” with my commitment to exercise, eating a healthy diet, meditating and practicing breathwork, and prayer…which for me is conscious connection with God. (Feel free to insert the words Universe, Creator, Creative Energy, etc. for God if that works better.) Lately, I haven’t been getting all the things I want to do, done, and some of those things pertain to my health. But today, I am going to acknowledge something I have done! So, let me tell you about my latest adventure…swimming!
I grew up spending my summers on a small lake in Southern New Hampshire. This little lake, Spofford Lake, was, and in many ways still is, my “heaven on earth.” Some of my most precious memories are from Spofford, and it is absolutely the place where my love of nature was fostered. I climbed a local mountain several times, spent almost every day outside, and I spent a good portion of every day in the water…rain or shine! Our particular spot on the lake had a gradual decline into the water, unlike many sections of the lake that drop off to deep water rather quickly. So, I could walk out into the water as far as I wanted to always knowing I could touch the bottom. Then, as I got older and we would swim “out to the rock” I would generally doggey paddle my way through the deeper water until I could then stand on this huge rock for as long as I wanted. Bottom line…I could keep myself afloat, could get myself where I needed to go, but couldn’t properly swim with crawl stroke. That, I never learned. Why? Because, on what should have been the first day of many swimming lessons at the local pool club one early summer day turned out to be the first and the last day of such lessons. The instructor enthusiastically told us all to “jump in and then swim back to the wall.” WHAT? Jump in…over my head…nope. I was used to walking into the water, knowing I could stand the entire way. I turned around, walked home, and never returned.
Fast forward to about fourteen years ago when I decided I wanted to do a sprint triathalon. I knew I could run the 5k part, and I knew I could cycle the 13 miles or so, but swim…not sure about that one. I signed up for a swimming clinic and learned how to properly swim and was HOOKED! The rhythm, breathing, smoothness, and overall feeling I had while swimming was amazing! The sound of the bubbles as I exhaled was mesmerizing and I found I was actually a decent swimmer. It does make me wonder what it would have been like to swim more as an adolescent…maybe even on the school teams…but I will never know. No worries…I can do it now and that is what matters!
My friend Kim, who is someone who had agreed to join me in my adventures of running and doing triathalons, had expressed that since her hip surgery she was feeling stiff and struggling with doing much cardio. Running was out of the questions so she was basically walking and finding it painful at times. Of course my response was “let’s start swimming again!!!!” I did the research, found out how much it would cost to return to the pool we trained in fourteen years ago…and bam…we are now swimming three days a week again! (Note to self…you do seem to move quickly when you are helping someone else…now how about moving that quickly to just help yourself!!!)
I started out slow…just doing my crawl stroke, taking breaks along the way, and being happy I was in the water again. Kim, who has a bit more of a competitive spirit than I do (and swam competitively throughout her school years) wanted to know just how far we were going and how far we could go. Together we determined how many laps it would take for a mile and started working our way up to a mile, mile and a half, and even two miles during one session. I love it…WE love it! We don’t finish feeling sore, we practice our breathing, we enjoy what feels like great meditation time listening to those bubbles, and we have a lot of laughs together feeling ALIVE!!
I sometimes beat myself up a bit as I have been slacking in my resistance training and my eating has not been stellar. I have to remind myself to “take it gently” and recognize what I AM doing and not focus on what I AM NOT doing. ( Thank you to my friend Barb for reminding me of that so often!) I don’t want to fall into making excuses for my lack of strength training, don’t want to make swimming “enough” when I know how important strength training is at my age, but I can do all of that with compassion…not judgement.
Celebrate the small wins, and continue to hold awareness of the goals you want to achieve. Strength training should not be optional at my age and in my situation. I have created an entire home gym with everything I need (and more) and I have the time in the mornings to get it done. I’m working on understanding what is holding me back…the same way I help my clients understand what is holding them back. I’m taking it gently and seeing every day as a potential to start again and get back into what I love! That’s the thing…I LOVE strength training, and I love feeling strong even more! So…what’s holding me back…I’m still working on fully understanding that and will keep you posted. For now, I will celebrate that today I swam a bit over two miles and only stopped as I had somewhere I had to be. I breathed, used my body, increased my heart rate, connected with my friend, chatted with some other ladies in the locker room…and am beyond grateful for what this 60 year old body still loves to do and DOES!
Take it one step…or stroke at a time! Never give up finding what it is your body loves to do. We are meant to move and our bodies do welcome that once we find the right thing. I will say one of the most inspiring things I see at the pool are the many women…of every shape and size, many with physical challenges, showing up each day and doing the hard thing! Swimming is not convenient! It means changing into a suit, feeling a tad chilly, entering the water, coming out, showering, dressing, etc. It’s not like stepping out the door for a walk! Kudos to these women! They inspire me each and every day I am there and I hope that maybe, just maybe, I inspire some of them as well!! Find your inspiration…and then BE an inspiration to others! One step…or stroke at a time!
