3 lessons from my routine swim

For those of you who swim, what goes through your mind in between the endless, repetitive laps? I was in my thoughtful state today during my swimming session. Or rather, certain incidents that occurred during my swim set me thinking.

Fight your strongest competitor

The first epiphany occurred while I was trying to outswim the fastest swimmer in the pool. Being a slow and unseasoned swimmer, naturally I was not able to keep up. However, I realized that I managed to swim faster than my original speed and outdo a lot of the other swimmers.

Similarly in life, you should focus on outwitting your strongest competitor. No matter the degree of success, this attitude will allow you to improve at the greatest pace. And according to the wise men, your strongest competitor is most often... Yourself.

Focus and not be afraid

So while swimming I also thought I saw something like a lightning strike. Immediately, I got afraid. Though nothing happened eventually, and what I saw was probably my wrong impression, I did learn 2 points from this incident. Firstly, I noticed my swimming speed slowed down substantially. The distraction, the fear of being struck by lightning broke my momentum and my focus, and I was thrusting in the water with half-assed effort. It really struck me how fear can limit one's ability, like how it affected my swimming performance.

Strength in numbers can be just false comfort

How I regained my composure was another lesson for me. I did not ascertain whether there truly is a lightning storm, but when I saw everyone around me continuing to swim, I thought it was ok, and continued too. It is amazing how humans have this herding mentality that is everyone is doing it , it should be ok. Clearly in this situation, the danger(if it really is lightning) does not diminish with more people, however I was comforted that there are other people swimming as well and that gave me enough courage to keep swimming at full effort. Here, I could truly understand the power of human support.

Well, I realize that there could be so much to learn even from my daily routine activities. What lessons can you draw out from yours? Change your perspective (with tips provided from my previous post) and you'll surprise yourself with what you can learn!

EUFASS