So I started swimming in June. It’s a fun adventure. Sometimes a bit challenging. Sometimes things come easy. The biggest thing that I’m totally amused at is how my personality quirks influence the swimming (hello-all things).
FOR EXAMPLE…I’m TYPE A. Engineer. High strung. Super FIXER. So I can get a bit tense in the water. And for that I have a mantra, “I’m a little tea pot, short and stout…pour me out!”. And it works well. Come to find out it works so much that when I drive down the street past a place that causes me tension, I sing my “Tea Pot Mantra” while I drive. If you’re lost about how a place on the street can cause tension, look forward to my next blog on “His Ironic Sense of Humor”.
So what does singing “I’m a tea pot” have anything to do with it? Well, the words mean something positive to me. My awesome swim coach suggested that I say them, he’s someone that I believe knows what he’s talking about. So it’s like a mental shield of armor, and a nice sharp sword at times too. It’s helping me to not rehearse a bad habit and develop a new more positive one. I could chant something a bit more…zen, but for right now, this is really working for me. I even know all the words now.
I must confess that I have more than one quirk, hahaha…let me share another with you. I’m a PERFECTIONIST. In a big way. I set expectations really high. For others, but super high for myself. Don’t get me wrong, I think expectations are good and meaningful, but not if the thoughts that stem from those tendencies aren’t so positive or get you wrapped about the axle. Or a PLETHORA of chlorinated water in your nose.
So, my first triathlon is in a week. I’m prepared. Truly. Yet I have this nagging voice in my space that isn’t so confident. And it’s on the verge of becoming louder; I struggle with it daily. So I go to the pool, and do the swim. Because despite all my coach’s reassures and the fact that I can swim longer than needed, I still hear the nagging voice that says I’m going to fail. Yesterday I did the swim. TWICE. And check this out! (for heavens sakes) I still wasn’t content and happy…with the time it took me. So in a breath’s length of time I raised the bar from just finishing to having a good time. And I don’t even know what a good time is. (seriously, some days I drive myself crazy)
OK. What’s to do with my crazy self.
YOGA. OFF THE MAT.
I know the answer is simple, though apparently not so easy for me to do.
Breathe. Listen to the breath. Sing my mantra. Ingrain it in my bones. Breathe. Practice what I know, do what I have practiced. Feel the water. Feel the body. Breathe.
