Sunday, November 6, 2011

Loosen Up

It was a beautiful day in Sun Valley.  Every season was at display.  Lush green fields reached into leaved branches of orange, red, and gold; and just as the mountains peaked snow held firm.  And there I stood, arms swinging in large circles, with a swim cap on, and goggles smothering my eyes, looking into a pool. 

I knew I looked the part.  In fact, I had the trendiest tri-athlete swimming gear on.   My audience, 2 old men hanging their chest and arms out of a hot tub, awaited anxiously for some action, or at least something to watch as they did absolutely nothing.  

My arms relaxed and I moved my toes to the edge of the pool.

I jumped in.  Don't get confused with diving in.  That I didn't do.  I simply went feet first, splashed a ton, and came to the top of the water to wade with the greatest of difficulty.

And he is off.  I started down my swimming lane in a freestyle form.  I dropped my head and kicked and reached forward, scooping through the water, and feeling like I was moving ahead soon to touch the wall. 

I can't turn my head to breath when I swim so I kept my head down and held my breath.  The wall never came! As my air went low and I came up to look, I realized I hadn't really moved at all.  I became a hamster on a wheel but in tri-gear in a pool.

My reaction: laughter.
My audience reaction: a nose twitch and slow blink.

Two hours later I dragged my pruned body out of the pool.  I had a blast attempting to swim.  I tried it all.  And failed at most.  But I didn't allow my pride to get in the way of a little awkward fun.

Because I didn't take myself too seriously I gave myself a chance to experience something new.  No one cared a lick if I was an amazing swimmer.  However, I'm sure they did wonder at times, when I stood motionless in the water looking confused, if I was peeing in the pool.

Who cares about what you look like or what you feel like?  Allow yourself the opportunity for fun.  Worse case scenario you make someone's day by being the biggest goofball and inspiring someone else to LOOSEN UP.

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