The first thing you see when your alarm goes off is the time. The bright green display blankly tells you that it is 5:17. You think of the day ahead, you have classes and homework, and you have a total of four hours to spend in (or around) the pool--four hours in which you succumb your body to physical pain and exhaustion. You train hundreds-perhaps thousands-of hours just to drop a few tenths--if that--off of your lifetime best swims. There are mornings where you wonder whether it's all really worth it--is the pain, the exhaustion, the sacrifice of time and sleep-all really worth it? Do you really want to roll out of that warm comforting bed to go to the pool-a place you were just at about ten hours ago?
Sometimes you wonder if it's really worth it in the long run. With the hours you spend in the pool, you could be working, hiking, exploring. You could be learning something new, or finally catching up on sleep. You could take the time to actually understand your homework, because you now have energy to work it out. You could spend time with friends that don't swim, because they feel neglected, and sometimes they just don't understand your passion for the pool. Sometimes you don't understand.
But then--you look inside of yourself--and you realize--you are who you are because of this sport. It has changed you for the better. You are physically more fit and stronger, yes. But mentally, you are much more disciplined, able to do what it takes to achieve perfection--or get close as possible. You do enjoy diving into the frigid water, to hear ... silence. Just your thoughts are audible, along with the bubbles you blow. You enjoy leaving all that energy and pain in the pool.
Who are you?
You have become this amazing person because of your dedication and sacrifice at the pool.
You smile, turn off the alarm, and go to the pool.
5 comments:
sure- way to leave the rest of us mere mortals just wishing we had achieved something at that level!
Keep smiling!
Wow! Great narrative and description! The beginning and ending made it seem like all those thoughts shwooshed through your head in the time it took your arm to reach from your bed to the alarm. I'm sure swimmers everywhere will understand.
Wow, why don't you do some sort of creative writing major? You could be a poet! Just don't go filling your pockets and walking into a river.
Oh, that last comment should say "filling your pockets with heavy rocks..."
Lauren, I understood. Poor, poor Virginia Woolf. I know now why she did that...It's sad, really.
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