My online swimming coach has a video on YouTube titled (in click-bait fashion), “What swimming will do to your body”. In the video, he shows pictures of male and female olympic swimmers with fabulous bodies that are muscular, ripped, and toned without an ounce of fat. He then goes on to explain that the average swimmer will never look like that. In the video, he explains that most Olympians have trained since childhood. They workout twice a day. They swim up to six hours a day. And, that those who rise to the Olympic levels with broad shoulders, well-muscled slender physiques and toned bodies started out that way. He said, swimming didn’t make their bodies that way – people with these types of bodies are drawn to swimming.
I used to think that people could transform themselves through their actions.
- Scrawny men (like me) could become super muscular lifting weights
- Education would make you smarter
- Hard work would make you industrious
- and so on…
The older I get, the more I realize how much natural ability/aptitude and societal influences (family, wealth, environment) impact what someone can become. Plus some luck, of course.
Despite knowing this, I still try hard to transform myself through effort. At 55 years old, I’m following a structured workout program that has improved my physique, flexibility and mobility more than ever before in my life.
I started following an online swim coaching program to get better at swimming.
A few years ago, I learned how to paint and draw, vastly improving my artistic abilities. I spend hundreds of hours practicing drumming and my skills have noticeably improved.
With school, work and life, I could list many more examples of how I improved my skills through focused effort and hard work.
But I’ll never look like a bodybuilder or an Olympic swimmer. I won’t invent the next big technological innovation. I won’t become famous for my artwork.
And that’s OK. For me, the actual process of getting better is nearly as rewarding as the end result. I won’t lie – I like attaining a level of competence that I’m proud of too. It’s just a good thing I’m not expecting anyone else to recognize or even care about it.
