EXPLORING the WHY

When last we talked I had asked each of you to write down the why,  and either plac e them in your buckets or swimming box, and to send me some of them as a group.  Someone from our group sent this, I just have a true passion for being in the water and working hard, very honest and well thought out.  This individual worries on occasion that there is not a good balance with the passion. After a little prying we got this response, “When swimming is going well my life outside of swimming is great, but when swimming is going bad it will affect my personal life, and the opposite is often the case also.”

There is nothing wrong with having passion for anything you do, but there needs to be balance between the two and you need to be able to control that balance.  It is important that the passion that you have doesn’t become your identity as a person. I would say that when the results of your races become all consuming to the point that it starts to affect you emotionally which then carries on into your personal life you need to take a second look.  In the above situation when all your emotions are tied to the results you start forgetting about the reasons you swim, and you stop enjoying the process that is involved in getting to that race.

Another comment that I received was, “ I want to win awards.”  While this a great thing to strive for, I would caution a swimmer to broaden their outlook.  Simply put, it is extremely hard to win awards in athletics regardless of the sport, and swimming is no different.  If awards, ribbons, trophies and medals are the end all at every meet eventually I believe frustration would set in and again it would start filtering into your personal life.  Eventually just participating in the sport is no longer important and you become one of the athletes that is looking in from the outside.

It is important to derive enjoyment in the activity just through participation and that joy is not tied to results and awards.  When you are able to accomplish that in athletics I believe you become a balanced athlete and better still, a balanced person in society.

I would still like to see more of your why’s. Please send them.

Sunday we will continue the twins journey and have a new dryland routine for you.