I used to be a good swimmer. Had no trouble getting the badges and certificates, and even battled home safely against a strongly ebbing tide off the Lancashire coast once. But I haven’t been swimming in a good many years, and I wondered tonight whether I might have forgotten how to do it.
How silly. I can’t have forgotten how to swim, because I never learned. That’s the point. ‘Learning’ to swim isn’t the same as learning to drive or play a musical instrument. Of course, we can learn techniques for swimming faster or more efficiently, but we don’t actually learn to swim; what we do is come to a state of confidence that if we just relax and move forward, we won’t sink. The human animal is buoyant. If we lie on our backs and spread out, we don’t even have to move forward. Relax and float. That’s all it comes down to.
I think that’s true of a lot of things in life, if only we can bring ourselves to accept it.
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3 comments:
That's true. I don't think you can forget how to swim either. It's always gonna be there, when you need it.
And when you relax and just 'let it be' of course.
It sounds a lot like riding bicycle. I never thought of swimming this way.
Lucy: Just be. You're doing well, Lu.
Mei-shan: Yes, the same I think. Nothing but confidence.
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