Here we go...

At 27 years old, I suddenly found myself unemployed and bored to tears.  My days became awash with job-hunting, napping, and constant worry (not to mention job-rejection).  I realized that my job had become my life, and it was a terrifying reality to come to grips with.  I went from being a hard-working marketing manager with a comfortable salary and a dynamic workload to, well, nothing much at all.  I had to find something to do - something to wake up to, to give me motivation and a sense of achievement.  I have always had a passion for swimming.  I was a water baby.  I remember photos of myself as a baby and my dad at parent/child swim lessons.  My brothers and I took swim lessons for years at the local rec center.  When it was time to find my own place, I chose an apartment with an indoor pool (quite rare where I'm from...) so that I could swim whenever my heart desired.  Whether I was any good at the sport, who knows.  What I do know is that I love the water and nothing, absolutely nothing, beats the thrill of a great swim.  I decided I was done waiting.  I told myself that I could do it - I could train and work my butt off and maybe I could compete on a swim team.  This was it, the wake-up call to end all wake-up calls.  I now had infinite time on my hands and could spend 100% of my time on me.  If not now, never.  However,  I have always been incredibly afraid of failure, even as a child, which I know is part of the reason that I always left sports when it was clear that I would be entering a competitive level.  Now, so many years later, I had to confront perceived failure and somehow rise above it to survive.  This was baptism by fire - thrown into a situation that could turn out one of two ways: massive depression or creating my own new success story.  It's time for me to put my big-girl swimsuit on and not rest until I'm there - where my dream meets my reality.

Here's the idea: I'll blog as often as I can about my workouts, swims, and the journey to my goal.

Why, Lauren, why?  Well, partly selfish accountability reasons (you know, those tough days when the absolute LAST thing you want to do is put on the sneakers and get ready for a rousing game of 'how many crunches can I do until I throw up' - any additional accountability is beneficial), as well as maybe giving someone else out there the 'thumbs-up' to make your dreams happen (that's pretty lofty, I know - but I can dream big, that's the whole idea).

Buckle up, it's going to be a ridiculous ride.