The Impact of Words

I swam competitively for 13 years when I was younger. Swimming was a huge part of my life for a long time. Practice, sometimes double, everyday. Swim meets on Saturdays and Sundays. When I graduated high school, I officially "retired" from swimming. I decided that I had had enough of the chlorine and early morning workouts, and that I didn't want to wake up at 5 am anymore. (Ha! Little did I know!) I hadn't touched a pool (in the competitive sense) for over 15 years.

Until today. Today I swam for the first time in 15 years. I was extremely nervous about it, visualizing myself immediately sinking to the bottom of the pool. But I was pleasantly surprised. When I got in the water, it all kind of came back to me. As my arms pulled through the waters, I could feel them sculling as I had been taught to do so long ago. I could hear my coaches saying, "Don't tuck your chin. Keep your head up," as I sprinted 25 yards. And I could feel it was wrong when I took a breath off the wall, something we used to get penalized for in practice. It shocked me how after 15 years, my coaches' words were still so fresh in my ears, as if they were right there on the deck blowing their whistles and yelling at me.

My husband often tells me to think about what I am going to say before I say it because whatever I say, it will stay with him for a long time. I guess that's true for coaches, teachers, parents, and people in general. Funny how I hold all of those titles. I guess that means I better learn this lesson soon!