After 2 months far away from the pool, I realized a bridge between my joy, my life and swimming. Generally, swimming is my life and the bridge is built with joy and happiness. When I swim, all my stress seems to disappear, goes away with the water. Maybe just because you haven’t noticed, once you jump right into the pool, all you could say is ” This is life”. Whenever I swim, in competition, rigorous practice or just for relax, those thoughts all come to me. Here is similarity between life process and swimming that I’ve just figured it out:

Stage 1: Warm-up and stretch:
A lot of people tend to forget or ignore this stage. This stage helps you to heat up your body up and make your muscles become flexible. You wouldn’t freeze or cramp once you swim. In this stage of life is about 01 year old to adolescent time,  when you study in school, gain knowledge, and started to have a sense of how harsh life would be. Onshore exercises include movements you would be used when you swim, so do the knowledge you learn when you are still at school will be applied in life. Although sometimes you may feel things quite pedestrian or too much pressure and want to give up, but NO , you have to finish the goal you’ve set. Myself, too, sometimes have gone through this idea. I often asked myself whether I shall go up and wrap the warming towel now as I have no coach; or when I was in the race, when there was no hope for me to continue since I glimpsed  through the lanes and saw the other swimmer had already completed her 2nd lane when I was on the 1st, plus the exhaustion, I wanted to stop right away. But no, my tenacity had won. Don’t give up, even at the darkest point.

Stage 2: Dive
This stage is when people start to live independently from their parents, create their own life, find jobs after graduate…People in this stage are quite anxious about what coming ahead. Just like swimming, before you dive yourself into the pool, you know this is going to be a long practice, it’s cold down there, regardless of anything, you have to finish your goal and your muscles would hurt afterward, but who cares. The urge inside your body has provoked your anger that you have to fight it and you are ready to do it.

Stage 3: Swim
This stage is when you officially “dive into” your career, the job that you always dream to do it and you would satisfy yourself completely for it. Of course, just like how you discern the techniques onshore you apply the knowledge and brain you perceive in school and do your best to make it.

Stage 4: Finish
In a race or just a regular practice, this is the happiest moment. You told yourself”I did it, I can’t believe I’ve made it”. You have won yourself. When you look back at what just has happened, you fell proud of yourself. In life, when everything is finish, you at least feel proud because you’ve done what you’ve tried your best regardless of the results.