Making our dreams a reality takes so much patience. There are a lot of factors when it comes to accomplishing our goals.
I’m definitely hyper-focused on water, water activities and all things related to being on, near or around the water these days. Growing up I spent nearly every waking hour in the pool, ocean or on the sand. Memories of swimming “out to the buoy” have resurfaced lately.
Courage to swim to The BUOY was only an option after you successfully mastered “rounding the ropes” a couple summers in a row. Open water swimming is very different from lap swimming in a pool. Wind currents, tides, and waves all make staying on course an added challenge.
Once you reach the buoy there is a requisite to stop and take in the view. You can see how far you’ve come. There is nothing like rising and falling with the ocean waves. It’s a combination of floating and submerging — lightness and darkness in partnership with the sea. You can truly appreciate the life of a sea otter from this angle.
Naturally there comes a time when you have to head back. If the tide is receding, endurance is required, if storms are coming you’ll need to hasten your stroke but if the tide is “coming in” you can enjoy mother nature's nudge back to shore.
The ebb and flow of the sea is symbolic to how our life has its own constant fluctuations, its ups and downs. It’s possible you can attempt to swim to the buoy and never make it but with a little persistence and mental stamina we can be successful at achieving our goals. We have to maintain a certain level of enthusiasm and/or confidence even though there may be hazards, warnings or difficult conditions to navigate as we attempt to reach our goals.
Swimming to the buoy and back is an individual pursuit. You can swim out with others but you have to manage your breathing, your technique, and the swells all on your own. You need to remember it's ok to tread water if you need to catch your breath (there is no pool bottom to push off of) and to relax and find your rhythm.
Doing this art thing is like swimming to the buoy. It takes a couple (or a lot) of years to feel like you are ready to swim out farther and deeper than you have before. But then you can see how strong you are and what a great perspective you have from this vantage point.
This might sound like an internal pep talk, and maybe it is…but it's not any different than trying to buoy someone’s spirits, and the world could use a whole lot of that right now.
Be Hopeful. Be Cheerful.
And keep swimming out to the buoy!!
JJH