swimming.*and it's effect on me.

this is a short one.
i drove 5 minutes to reach the clubhouse near by my house back in seremban earlier this evening cos i decided to go for a swim, and the last time i had swam was some time ago, which was also the time that i got mind-fucked(read my old posting).and this time, i told myself it would be 30 laps after looking around the pool, checking if that particular freaking gay was around.--- now i'm just gonna cut the suspense and tell you" NO, today's story is not about the freaking gay mind-rapist, and he will not re-appear to be mentioned in my blog again!!"(fingers crossed)

okay. so 30 laps for toning up my stamina again, since i hadnt swam for a while, and next weekend, hopefully i'll be able to get back to the normal 60. now the moment that i had dived into the pool ,i felt extremely pure and fresh, like a piece of blank paper, i begin to remember and feel all the greatest sensations that i've always felt whenever i'm in water, slowly flooding into my body, sorta like the moment that memories start to re-surface from the deepest oceans of my mind, memories that are linked to swimming. and at the same time, techniques of how to swim starts to come in, all seemed to be coming back, in a strong surge of current, yet i felt like a block of new sponge, ready to take on all the swimming sensations that i've missed for such a period of time.

well, swimmming, to me , is part of me. Much like walking or talking, swimming has been part of my life since i was a kid when my mom enrolled me to a competition swimming class shortly after i had learnt the basics of not drowning in the pool. then there were the times when i went for competition training, and it gave me, during my growing years, the body that i have right now, which i wouldnt say is perfect, but i am content with.
then the mental part of me was also very much affected by swimming and how it's competition is held. Why would i say that ? its because i have grown up to have this characteristic in me, which is the thinking of "ONE-GOAL"-"strive to reach it" and to relate it to swimming as a sport and the only leisure activity that i do is really easy. because Swimming is not a team work thing, ofcourse there's the relay-competiton, but then , it requires no team effort, all you have to do is do your best and crawl ahead with all your might when it's your turn. Well, swimming, is a one-goal sport, you just have to stay focused at your target and the only obstacle you will encounter , apart from the resistance and drag of the pool water on your body, is yourself. and your own ability. So, the fact that there are no obstacles as in, there are nobody to block your lane in the competition and no one that will pull your leg or push you aside and you dont even need to take care of your teammates , all these, are actually the strongest influencing elements that shape my character today.

once i had been asked: if in a war. what would you want to be? a medic? a sniper a tanker? or wat? i answered: a commando. one man. orelse with an elite team if i cannot be alone. that's how much i did not realise about the importance of teamwork back then,and because i wasnt used to having obstacles while swimming, i applied the thinking to life too, and i didnt realise that in real-life, things and plans are filled with difficulties and obstacles, and even when i met one, i couldnt face it without loosing my cool. because swimming was the only thing i was doing all along. NO i'm not blaming swimming at all, i actually thank every possible reason that made me love swimming so much till today. because then again, it boosted my confidence really alot since it's a one-objective type of sport, it meant that i could reach my objective as long as i'd prepared and tried my best.

But over-all, there's the greatest thing that swimming had taught me: well, Swimming is something that needs constant self-discovery and self improvisations, the coach can tell you that your stroke is off or your timing is not right, but he cannot teach you any better that yourself can, when you have already mastered the basics, it's all up to your own physical feeling of how the currents paddle under your palm with each stroke that you draw and each kick that you make , and how to make each stroke deliver full power, or how to breath in a more rhytmic pattern, or which muscles do you use to propel yourself further with less stress on your shoulders.
just like aikido, it's a never ending self-discovery and self-conscious activity that lets you learn something different about yourself everytime you do it . and this, i believe, has directly affected my attitude to being a person that always question myself and i'm always charging ahead (somtimes too unpatiently)for better improvements.well, i'm still tryin to learn wat swimming did not teach me: teamwork , overcoming obstacles while staying calm.

i thank my mom and dad for enrolling me into the swimming class in the first place when i was young. swmming did not only shaped my body,it sculpted my character. :) so, future mom and dads make sure you get your kid to learn swimming, competition swimming, where they will also get all the discipline, fighting spirit. ofcourse i hope they wont turn out to be lonely arrogant bastards like i did. haha