Saturday, April 14, 2012

Swimming without goggles

Recently I took my family for an evening swim and had to lend my wife the pair of goggles that I normally wear. While I am  not a proper swimmer trained under a watchful eye, I on my own could manage about 20 laps of both free style and breast stroke in a 30m length pool. (probably slow compared to anyone else)

This day the swim was totally different. I could barely make it to the other end in a straight line. The difference was I simply could not swim with my eyes open. I had to close my eyes. The moment I open my eyes they were smarting way too much! I somehow wanted to give it a persistent try. So I tried six laps. On all occasions I was swimming all over  and on two occasions I bumped in to another swimmer. (Dont't think he was amused at all!). Doesn't matter how focused I was to make it right, it was a futile effort.

It taught me an important lesson.

At times in life you need necessary focus and guidance to achieve things or reach a destination. Sometimes we feel that we are on the right direction. But we end up reaching somewhere totally different. Best part is throughout we think we were on track.

There are millions of swimmers who could swim without any goggles or any other supporting equipment. Unfortunately a 'self made' swimmer like me, who took up swimming in my mid twenties, need goggles to swim in a straight line. Goggles allow me to focus and see the path beneath me. It allows me to see the bottom of the pool so I could could focus on a line between three floor tiles and follow that path. That allows me to reach the other end in a straight line.

In life, when you feel like you have lost focus or not reaching the destination required or 'having smarting eyes' half way through, take a moment to think what equipment (or help) that you need. Sometimes all it takes is a pair of goggles! Reach out and seek out for one. (Ask help from someone!)


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