Act your age

When we were young, how many times have we heard that saying - 'act your age'?  At some point in time, a few years down the road from hearing that phrase so often, we realize that acting our age may no longer be such a fun thing.  This thought has entered my mind a few times, particularly since embarking on this swimming thing full-on.  One of the demons that I have to fight is this idea that I'm too old to be starting such an intense journey.  I know this is all in my head - and it definitely has not deterred me.  It is, however, one of my biggest fears in this endeavor.  I combat this fear with two things:  going to the gym to prove to myself that I'm getting stronger and my body is up to the challenge, and to remember that my age is out of my control but how I deal with this fear is what I can control.  My birthday is coming up, and I have decided that I'm not going to celebrate my calendar age of 28.  I will instead celebrate with my friends and family how old I feel, which I have decided is probably 23 - completely arbitrary, but the number doesn't really matter.  I don't care what I didn't do ten years ago - I could have been doing this then, but it obviously wasn't in the grand plan for me.  Maybe I wouldn't have been able to follow it through or have the strength to make it happen at 17 years old.  It's all about living to the max and working 110% to make my life everything I want it to be, no matter my age.  This is it, the one life I have been given, and I'm not going to waste any of it on regrets or waiting for tomorrow.  Each day counts, each lap counts, each rep counts.  This isn't about putting pressure on myself - it's about motivating myself and convincing myself that I can do it, no matter my 'real' age.  Every day that I'm in the gym, I become more focused - I no longer am in the mindset of 'if I can do it', rather 'I will do it - it's just a matter of time.' 

That being said, I can update all of you on my progress...  I'm feeling much stronger and really working my butt off in the gym.  I get in the pool a few times a week, but it's not a major focus right now.  The pool workouts I use to keep my feel for the water and work on breath control.  I'm waiting on really training seriously in the water until I get a coach.  I'm afraid of doing too much in the pool and developing bad habits or poor stroke technique that will be hard to shake once I have a pro working with me.  Thanks again to my readers for the kind words of support - it really means so much that I have people cheering for me!

xoxo

L