pool

Why Bother Staying Bouyant?

There is something about the smell of chlorine, and the warm moist air that greets my body when I enter the door to the pool at our local club. I know the lifeguards and we always exchange a brief and friendly greeting. And since I am one of the early morning swimmers, just the sight of that empty and ripple free water makes me happy.

Staying Afloat

I haven’t always had the luxury of swimming. While raising our children I could not afford a membership at the health club, but once our sons have grown and gone, our tight budget loosened enough so that I could. Since then, I swim three times a week at 5:00 a.m.

Like Sunday morning church goers who have their preferred pew, swimmers too like their particular lane. Mine is the first one on the left side of the pool. It is the widest of all the lanes. When I swim on my back, I have the tendency to wander and scrape my hands on the plastic ropes that divide the lanes. But, the width of “my” lane keeps my hands from raking against those plastic dividers and injury free. 

Sometimes, during the cold, dark winter months, I think about skipping the pool altogether and going straight to the hot tub and dry sauna. “I just want to be warm,” I tell myself. But of course I don’t skip out on swimming the 74 lengths of our 25 meter pool. If I do, I know my body will miss the good feeling that only comes from the exertion of a good swim. 

Lifeguards are at an all time shortage, so occasionally, I will get a call the night before letting me know that the pool will be closed the next morning. Then, I have to find an alternative to my regularly scheduled swim. Other times, I will get to the pool a minute or two later than usual and find someone else already swimming in “my” lane. Of course, I am momentarily disappointed, but then quickly adjust my mental attitude and claim one of the narrower lanes for myself. 

Swimming gives me plenty of time to think and I’ve often thought about the physics of swimming. How exactly does my body stay afloat in the water? The simple answer is that my body is not as dense as the water. If I were to throw my car keys in the pool, even though they are smaller than I am and weigh a lot less, they would sink. That’s physics for you.

But, staying afloat in water also gives me reason to pause and consider, how in the world, while in the world, do I stay buoyant? 

There are routines I have put in place to shore up my faith. First, there is nothing like the quiet early morning; 3:00 a.m. to be exact. Not only is the neighborhood wrapped in quiet, the birds don’t even start chirping until 3:30.  

I can count on no one being in my space upstairs in our converted attic where my rocking chair sits. With my cup of coffee, an inspiring book, pen and journal, I say a little prayer and ready myself for the mental exertion of any one of my favorite authors who challenges my faith.

Of course, there are times when I think I want to skip out on my early morning routine and roll over and go back to sleep. But, I know my heart and mind would miss out on the only opportunity in my day to contemplate for any length of time. 

Then there are those days when my time for silence is abbreviated or interrupted for some reason or another. But, it is no cause for alarm. It just means I’ll have to take a snippet of time when I can find it.

Why bother to stay buoyant? Staying afloat in the water requires me to be less dense than the water. Staying buoyant while in the world requires me to stay disciplined. Either way, both are doable.

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