Just Keep Swimming
Have you ever had so much to do that you don't even start? That was me last night. With eight chapters to read and 2 papers to write (for the online master's class that I'm currently taking), I felt too overwhelmed to even think about tackling it, so I simply went to bed with the resolve to get up early and start working on it.
When I woke up this morning, I opened up to the 2 chapters that my response papers are to be based on, and and realized that together they totalled only 12 (not even full) pages! If I would have known how short those 2 chapters were, the task would not have seemed so daunting!
The story is told of Florence Chadwick, a long-distance swimmer in the 1950's, who attempted to swim the 21 miles across the Catalina Channel. The water was cold and the fog was so dense that she could not even see the support boats that were following at a safe distance behind her. The fog also obstructed her view of the shoreline. After almost 16 hours of swimming, she finally asked to be pulled out of the water, feeling that her goal was just too far out of reach. Once in the boat and headed towards shore, it wasn't very long until she could see through the fog, realizing that she had been less than a mile from reaching her goal! "Later, she was quoted as saying, 'Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I know I could have made it.'" (Sanner, 2008, Vivacity)
How often do we quit so close to achieving our goals because it feels out of reach? How often do we not even start because it feels too overwhelming? We need to keep swimming through the fog.... and despite the fog!
When I woke up this morning, I opened up to the 2 chapters that my response papers are to be based on, and and realized that together they totalled only 12 (not even full) pages! If I would have known how short those 2 chapters were, the task would not have seemed so daunting!
The story is told of Florence Chadwick, a long-distance swimmer in the 1950's, who attempted to swim the 21 miles across the Catalina Channel. The water was cold and the fog was so dense that she could not even see the support boats that were following at a safe distance behind her. The fog also obstructed her view of the shoreline. After almost 16 hours of swimming, she finally asked to be pulled out of the water, feeling that her goal was just too far out of reach. Once in the boat and headed towards shore, it wasn't very long until she could see through the fog, realizing that she had been less than a mile from reaching her goal! "Later, she was quoted as saying, 'Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I know I could have made it.'" (Sanner, 2008, Vivacity)
How often do we quit so close to achieving our goals because it feels out of reach? How often do we not even start because it feels too overwhelming? We need to keep swimming through the fog.... and despite the fog!
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