The Virtuous Feeling of an Early Morning Swim, or the Comfort of Your Covers - the Choice is Always Yours!
Here in Perth, we are starting to go into our colder winter months, and this morning saw one of the first spiralling mists off the gorgeous Claremont Pool. This is an experience our swimmers here are lucky to have in the current pandemic, but today was made all the more special as we’ve just come out of another mini lockdown ourselves. The fact is though, that rather than the winter being a time for Squad numbers to drop off, we actually see the exact opposite - people are actually excited to experience swimming in that environment which tests your mental resolve for rolling out of bed at 5am. In return, you get the benefit of that wonderful sense of feeling supremely virtuous knowing that you got up and did that little thing you loved, when others remained under the comfort of their covers. Well done.
The great British middle distance runner turned politician, Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe CH, KBE, Hon FRIBA (or simply Seb Coe to most people who remember him more for his amazing running prowess!), famously stated that he always made a point of going for a run on Christmas Day knowing that none of his competition would have the drive to do so. Coe believed this would give him the edge. History showed that whatever he did seemed to work, for him.
But what if you’re not chasing Olympic medals and world records? What if you’re just chasing the goal of staying fit and healthy and denying the hands of time their incessant reach to pull you down and leave you resigned to the couch? Take a leaf from 86 year old Barrie Eves, a stalwart of the Swim Smooth Perth Squad. Barrie swims with us every day (sometimes up to an impressive 5km!) and the only thing that he ensures as part of his “pièce de résistance” against old age and slowing down is to “never stop”. Barrie turns up come rain or shine, gets the job done and lives his life in the most virtuous and happy of manners as a result. Something I think we can all learn from.
#bemorebarrie
Swim Smooth!