Total Immersion

For the past six weeks I have been swimming.

I have not always been a swimmer. In fact until I was twelve I was terrified of water. The summer I was twelve I was put into an adjustment to water class. Did I mention I was 12? All the other children in the class were 5. Or less.
I graduated from that class and that same summer I got up to the Junior Red Cross level in swimming lessons. A summer later I swam the length of the old Kits pool with my Dad. That was one eighth of a mile. Later that summer I swam two lengths. One quarter of a mile.

When I lived up north I took a stroke correction class with a dear friend.  A dear friend who also swims those long distances.

In my twenties I entered a couple of triathalons and trained at the Vancouver Aquatic Center. A few times a week I would swim a mile.

Swimming has always been my salvation when all else failed.

So I am back in the pool. I have been reading about Total Immersion swimming and practicing some of the techniques. I realize I am a Total Immersion kind of person.

Not just swimming. I have totally immersed myself in many things over the years. Parenting, teaching, knitting, La Leche League - to name a few, and now, for not the first time, swimming.

I am beginning to totally immerse myself in retirement.  And life.  I am recommitting myself to totally immersing myself in life.

Because for me it isn't enough to float with the current, or sail with the wind.  I think I am happiest when I am swimming against the current or sailing into the wind.  Because then I feel alive.  Then I feel in control. Then I feel like I am making a difference, taking a risk, being brave.

What I realize through my reading about Total Immersion swimming is that it is really about being more efficient.  It is about swimming faster and for longer distance with less effort.

So that is interesting.  Moving forward with less effort.

It means retraining old patterns.  It means feeling awkward while learning new things.  It means shifting focus from the destination to the journey.

This is going to take some practice.  And some time.

I have time.

I am totally immersed in it.