My unique style?

Went swimming back in Oz back in July, after over a month away. The little bit of Snorkelling I did while away in the South Pacific islands, must have helped my breathing, if not my speed, as that day I swam so much more easier as far as my breathing was concerned. So much so that I was able to swim 800 metres (16 Laps) without having to rest between laps or even touch the end of the pool. And I only stopped then because my swimming partner decided to stop after his 20 laps. (So I am still slower than him despite my ease in breathing.)
Anyway, as I was turning around in the shallow end without stopping after two laps, I saw someone else getting ready to swim. I did not originally recognise him, but he obviously did me, as he said, “I thought I recognised that unique Style.”
Later when I had finished, I told my swimming partner and the Pool attendant about this friendly dig at me, and they both remarked, “What style?”
So you can see by this, that my length of swimming may have improved but my style and speed hasn’t, and probably never will. But that doesn’t bother me too much as I can still swim further than a lot of other people can.
So today’s lesson is: “Don’t worry if your “style “ is not good enough for anyone else!” As long as it gets you where you want to go safely and comfortably, then be happy with it.
Either that or lash out and take swimming lessons! (Which I don’t intend to do anytime soon!)

My unique style?

Went swimming back in Oz today, after over a month away. The little bit of Snorkelling I did while away, must have helped my breathing, if not my speed, today, as I swam so much more easily as far as my breathing was concerned. So much so that I was able to swim 800 metres (16 Laps) without having to rest between laps or even touch the end of the pool. And I only stopped then because my swimming partner decided to stop after his 20 laps. (So I am still slower than him despite my ease in breathing.)
Anyway, as I was turning around in the shallow end without stopping after two laps, I saw someone else getting ready to swim. I did not originally recognise him, but he obviously did me, as he said, “I thought I recognised that unique Style.”
Later when I had finished, I told my swimming partner and the Pool attendant about this friendly dig at me, and they both remarked, “What style?”
So you can see by this, that my length of swimming may have improved but my style and speed hasn’t, and probably never will. But that doesn’t bother me too much as I can still swim further than a lot of other people can.
So today’s lesson is: “Don’t worry if your “style “ is not good enough for anyone else!” As long as it gets you where you want to go safely and comfortably, then be happy with it.
Either that or lash out and take swimming lessons! (Which I don’t intend to do anytime soon!)

What Would It Take To Make You Happy?

If you have been following my blogs for a while you will know by now that I took up swimming about 15 months ago, at the initial suggestion from my then physiotherapist. That and the invitation of a previous employer of mine to join him in swimming once a week. You will also know that while I have finally been able to get some distance in and swim around 1 km each time, basically I suck as a swimmer, and am as slow as a wet weekend.
Last year our son decided to go scuba diving in the Whitsunday passage for a week with some of his friends and so went for His “Basic Diving licence” before hand. Despite not having swum since he left school and not even much then, he was soon doing the required 200 odd meters required before I was even doing 100.
Then a couple of months back our last born started swimming once a week with her friends and thought she would get some extra practice in with Dad. Well her mother decided she would come too, so the three of us went swimming. By the second week my wife was doing 600 metres and our last-born was doing even more, and much more than me, and much faster too!
A fact that I lamented to our first born, who replied, “ Well dad, what do you want me to do? Come swimming with you too, and drown in the first 50 metres, just to prove that you are not the worst swimmer in the Family?” (Now somehow, I rather suspect that rather than drown in the first 50 metres, it too would not be long before she would be swimming as far as the rest of us, if not better than me.)
However her comment made me wonder if sometimes we do focus too much on what we can’t do, or on what others can do better than us. Rather than on focusing on what we can actually do, no matter how poorly compared to others. After all, many have drowned simply because they could not swim, even as poorly as me.
So the lesson for today is, to be happy with what you have and with what you can do, and not to worry about what you don’t have and can’t do! So, get out there and enjoy your own achievements, no matter how limited they may seem to others and ENJOY the rest of your life.

Just call me the Kilometer Kid now.

Now I know that at the time of writing this, I am (Literally) only a few days away from my 58th Birthday, but now I feel like calling myself the “Kilometer Kid” as I have just managed to swim that distance. Albeit in a 50 metre pool and not in the ocean, or in a river like my friend in Papua New Guinea had to do recently, but I did it; even with a few moments rest occasionally at the end of each lap.
Not bad considering that when I started swimming again barely 10 months ago, I couldn’t even swim 25 metres without stopping. I still can’t say my swimming style is marvellous, nor fast, but I have improved, albeit only a bit. My mate who I go swimming with once a week, is also not the fastest swimmer around and swims in the slowest slow lane, (While I swim in the Public section.) yet he used to do two laps to my one. Now, he does 3 laps to my two: so you see I still have along way to go, just to be at his low level; but at least I am getting some distance in now.
Although a couple of weeks back I had done 16 laps, my normal distance had been between 12 & 14 laps in the 50 minutes or so, we spend swimming, so I was somewhat surprised the other morning to realize that I had just done 14 laps and still had heaps of time left and was travelling well, so went out to break my 16 lap record which I did, but just after I started on my 17th lap, I was struggling so badly that I thought I would just finish it and hopefully the 18th and call it quits, but then I recovered and having done my 18th and seen that my mate was still swimming, went for the round number of 20, which I comfortably achieved in the end.
When I had finished and told my mate how many I had done, even though he had done that day (and often does 30 laps himself), he was more pleased for me than I was myself. Isn’t it great to have someone to try yourself out against without have to actually compete against them too?
So today I would just like to encourage you to learn from both myself and my mate.
1. When you first start out on something new, don’t give up too easily. Even if it is hard or difficult and seemingly impossible, hang on in there and keep plugging away.
2. If you don’t have the speed, go for endurance; just don’t give up, but look to your strengths, and finding them, work to them.
3. Set yourself mild goals and not unrealistic ones. My first goal was to swim the full length of the pool. And them to get back again! And then, when time and energy allowed, trying to beat my previous best. Even though that was not always possible each week, it was something to aim at in the back of my Mind.
And from my mate I have learnt:
1. To know your limits. Even though he has been swimming sometimes up to 3 times a week for the past couple of years, He has learnt that 30 is his limit, even if some mornings he only does 24 or so, sometimes.
2. To encourage others, rather than to compete against them.
Well that’s me and what I have learnt from my swimming experiences. What about you? What have you learnt, and what can you learn, from your own personal experiences? Even from something as mundane as swimming?

Still Swimming!

I told you earlier, that early this year, (Mid Jan), nearly 6 months after my then Physiotherapist suggested it, I finally started swimming one morning a week, due entirely from bumping into a former employer of mine who lives nearby and who swims between 20 – 30 laps 3 days a week at 6AM.

So due to his encouragement and the fact that he picks me up each Friday morning, I started swimming, after probably a 40 year break and even then probably only capable of just doing 20–25 metres at a push. So it has been a real struggle to get up, get in the pool, and get going, let alone actually making it to the end of the 50-metre pool.

Lately, thanks to some advice from my son (Just try and swim a little further each day, even if it is only a half a metre further, at least it is a little further, and eventually you will get there.”) That; and a change in my swimming style helped immensely and now I have been able to swim the length of the pool 8 times without stopping and after a short break do 6 more. So now I am getting keener on swimming than I was originally and starting to look forward to going each week. (Although currently I have had a two-week break because of an ear infection.)

The thing that really surprises me about my swimming, is that I am still doing it 5 months down the track. Had you asked me when I began, how long I would last, I would have said about one month. In fact that was all I mentally committed myself to. I originally refused to buy a ten-entry pass, at a much cheaper rate than a “Daily” entry, as I didn’t think I would last ten weeks. Well I did, and recently I bought a ten-entry pass, and so now I am committed to another 8 weeks (as soon as my ear cleans up) and actually quite looking forward to seeing just how many laps of the pool I will eventually be able to do in the same time as my mate does his. I have no intention or desire to match or even beat him. My only aim is to try and achieve the best that I, myself and me, can do.

What about you? Is there something that you are currently doing, maybe even something you have been coerced into doing against your own initial desires, yet something that know that you know is good for you and that you will personally benefit from it? Well, hang on in there and be encouraged and inspired by others, but only commit and do that which you can do. Don’t try and match or beat others, just do your best and achieve your best, even if it is no good for anyone else but you. What say you?

Still Swimming!

I told you earlier, that early this year, (Mid Jan), nearly 6 months after my then Physiotherapist suggested it, I finally started swimming one morning a week, due entirely from bumping into a former employer of mine who lives nearby and who swims between 20 – 30 laps 3 days a week at 6AM.

So due to his encouragement and the fact that he picks me up each Friday morning, I started swimming, after probably a 40 year break and even then probably only capable of just doing 20–25 metres at a push. So it has been a real struggle to get up, get in the pool, and get going, let alone actually making it to the end of the 50-metre pool.

Lately, thanks to some advice from my son (Just try and swim a little further each day, even if it is only a half a metre further, at least it is a little further, and eventually you will get there.”) That; and a change in my swimming style helped immensely and now I have been able to swim the length of the pool 8 times without stopping and after a short break do 6 more. So now I am getting keener on swimming than I was originally and starting to look forward to going each week. (Although currently I have had a two-week break because of an ear infection.)

The thing that really surprises me about my swimming, is that I am still doing it 5 months down the track. Had you asked me when I began, how long I would last, I would have said about one month. In fact that was all I mentally committed myself to. I originally refused to buy a ten-entry pass, at a much cheaper rate than a “Daily” entry, as I didn’t think I would last ten weeks. Well I did, and recently I bought a ten-entry pass, and so now I am committed to another 8 weeks (as soon as my ear cleans up) and actually quite looking forward to seeing just how many laps of the pool I will eventually be able to do in the same time as my mate does his. I have no intention or desire to match or even beat him. My only aim is to try and achieve the best that I, myself and me, can do.

What about you? Is there something that you are currently doing, maybe even something you have been coerced into doing against your own initial desires, yet something that know that you know is good for you and that you will personally benefit from it? Well, hang on in there and be encouraged and inspired by others, but only commit and do that which you can do. Don’t try and match or beat others, just do your best and achieve your best, even if it is no good for anyone else but you. What say you?

My Swimming Style: Not Pretty, But It Gets Me There!

As mentioned earlier, I took up swimming reluctantly nearly 6 months after my then Physiotherapist suggested it, and that I couldn’t even swim one length of the pool without stopping, until I heeded my son’s advice of, “Just try and swim a little further each day, even if it is only a half a metre further, at least it is a little further, and eventually you will get there.”

So that is what I started to do and initially with not a great deal more success because I kept running out of breath. That is till one day I changed my swimming style.

I was trying to better my previous record mark and quickly running out of breath and so just to make that extra bit of distance, I changed from my swimming stroke to a dog paddle stroke, just to get past the 37 metre mark.

Then I found something amazing happening. I was actually getting closer and closer to the 50 metre mark with out being out of breath and much to my surprise I actually made the full 50 metres, when all I was initially hoping for, was about 40 metres that time.

So I immediately changed my swimming stroke to something between the dog paddle and a sidestroke, and I immediately was able to do the 50 metres without being too puffed and ready to try more.

So the next week I again tried out my new ungainly style with the intention of trying to manage two lengths of the pool with out stopping. As I approached the finish of the second lap I decided to try and push for three and when I neared that, I decided to try for four. Eventually I had to stop but only after I had made 8 lengths of the pool with out stopping. Still along way short of my mate’s 30 laps in the same time though! None the less I made a vast improvement on my previous efforts by changing my style and keeping at it.

What about you? Is there something that you have been trying to do, but seem to have reached a plateau with it, and you need to either give up or change your style. Well if I may be so bolds as to suggest that you try changing your style first before you give it away? Maybe, just maybe, you may have to give it away, but don’t do so until you have tried all other avenues first. And don’t worry if your style or method is not pretty or attracts some derision and laughter! (Like mine) As long as it is effective and works for you, should be what is important and not how pretty you look doing it. What say you?

Swimming Further Thanks To My Son’s Advise!

I told you earlier in the Year that nearly 6 months after my then Physiotherapist suggested it, I finally started swimming one morning a week thanks to the encouragement of a former employer of mine who lives nearby and goes 3 times a week.

I also told you that I couldn’t even swim 50 metres without stopping somewhere around the half way mark of each lap of the Pool. After a while I could make 35 metres but that was it, and no further. At that point my son who was going for his basic Scuba Diving Certificate in preparation of a future holiday up QLD way, and who couldn’t then swim much better than me, gave me some wise advice.

And that was? “ Just try and swim a little further each day, even if it is only a half a metre further, at least it is a little further, and eventually you will get there.” So that is what I started to do and guess what it worked - eventually.

More in a later blog, but for now, I would just like to make two points.

1. Always be open to advice from all sources; even from those sources that you are normally the one expected to give advice to, not receive it from. So always evaluate the advice and not be too concerned of the actual source. If it is good advice accept it, even if you do have to modify it to your own style and abilities.
2. Never give up or think you have done your all, but always aim for that next half metre in all that you do, until you have achieved your goal. And then modify your goals so that you are always striving to improve yourself.

If you are out of work and struggling for a job, take the best that is on offer to you, (No matter how lousy) and work your way up and along to a better one, and a better one, etc, until you reach the ideal job for you.

Which by the way may be totally different to what is ideal for everyone else. But no matter, seek and strive for that which is right for you. Happy swimming, eh, I mean striving! Walter

Swimming Along, But Not Very Far.

In my earlier blog,’ Swimming along but not alone” I told how I had taken up swimming for my back’s benefit and how I only did that with a friend’s support. What I didn’t tell you was that I can’t really swim.

Many, many years ago at State School (that’s how old I am! They call them Primary Schools now!) Anyway at School we had weekly swimming Lessons at the old Outdoors pool at Diamond Creek. (Long gone now!) Anyway all I ever managed there was enough to get a Herald Certificate, by swimming across from one side of the pool to the other, not the length of it, 25 yards from memory. Apart from doing Water skiing, I have never really swum nor had the need to, except for a few times in the Murrumbidgee River while up in Wagga Wagga some 20 years ago, and even there it was a case of walking a kilometre or so up stream and swim/float back down, not real swimming. I do remember once swimming across to the other side, and barely making it back again and having to walk a hundred metres or more back up the river as I had floated so far of Course. All this to show that swimming is not my strong point and so being confronted by a 50-metre pool can be a bit daunting.

Changing the subject ever so slightly, do you know how to eat an Elephant? It really is very simple. Just one mouthful at a time, till you get to the end. That is how I am approaching my swimming and the 50-metre Pool. My friend goes three times a week and swims between 20 and 30 laps each time. Me? Well I have only committed myself for one morning a week for this month, to see if I will commit even further, or give it away. I am not sure if swimming is really for me, but I want to base my decision on more than one or two attempts.

My friend tells me that he only took it up again just over 12 months ago, although he could swim a bit before that, so that gave me a little encouragement. Anyhow, in my first attempt, using the eating an Elephant method, I actually did two lengths of the pool stopping halfway each time, plus two half-lengths. (I was trying for a third lap but got half way and decided to go back in the shallower water.)

The second time I did 4 lengths but again stopping halfway each time, so you see I still have a long way to go before I can actually say I have swum even one full length, but at least I am trying it out.

What about you? When you are advised for health or safety reasons to try something new or different and difficult, will you give it a fair go, or give up after one or two halfhearted attempts, if you even start to begin with? Or will you give it a fair trail before making a final decision one way or the other?

At this stage I am still not convinced that swimming is for me, but I aim to find out fully before I make my final decision either way. What about You?

Swimming Along, But Not Alone.

A week or so before Christmas, my wife and I were out on our daily walk to get some exercise while getting the daily newspaper. As we were walking along the main side street, near home I noticed a white vehicle slow up and stop right near us. At first I thought they must have been lost and stopping to ask us for direction. Then I realised it was a former employer of mine who lives on the other side of the highway (not that far from Us, as the Crow flies,) but often uses this street to get to the next suburb.

Seeing us he had stopped to find out what we were doing in this area, as he knew we didn’t live there before when I worked for them. Then he enquired why we were walking and I said for exercise. Then he said, (as I already knew) that he used to do a lot of walking but had to give it up because it was hard on his knee, (which I didn’t know!) I also didn’t know, but soon found out that he had taken up swimming about 12 months earlier and did it three mornings a week.

At the mention of swimming I mentioned that my then Physiotherapist had previously strongly suggested that I take up swimming for my back problems. I may also have mentioned that that had been 6-months ago and although I seriously considered it, I had still not gotten around to doing anything about it yet.

Then he invited me to join him and I said I would definitely join him but that I still had to buy a pair of bathers as I had left my last pair in South Africa some 5 years ago. That also may give you some idea of how bad a swimmer I am also. Anyway that very weekend I went out and bought a pair of bathers, but it took me till late January to actually ring him up and officially accept his offer,

At this stage I have only committed myself to one day a week, but at least I have started, which I would never have done without his support. I knew I should be doing it. I knew I could probably do it, although I have never been a good swimmer, yet I would never have taken it up without some outside support. It didn’t take much, but just having another along side doing it too, helped me greatly to act upon my, till then only good intentions. And turned them form intentions into deeds. And it may even help you. We didn’t swim together either (I am definitely not in his league there!) But it was just enough for him to get me to the pool that made the difference, in me making the commitment to try.

How about you? Is there some thing you would like to do but just need a little support and encouragement? Or maybe you know someone else who needs a bit of support and encouragement that you can get along side and encourage. If so, stop thinking about it and turn those intentions into actions. What say you? Walter