The forecasters are predicting a (potentially) major winter storm will hit us this weekend. Temperatures will drop into the teens. We could get up to 3″ of snow and/or sleet that would shut the city for several days until it warms up enough melt.
I’m not the least bit concerned for myself. Now that I no longer swim every day (or at all), I can hunker down in my house for the entire storm. As long as I have heat, I’m good.
It was a relief today thinking how gleeful I felt about not having to worry about getting to the pool, dealing with weather closures, driving on slippery roads and, of course, freezing my a$$ off in and out of the water during this cold spell.
I’m still amazed how I don’t miss swimming one bit. After swimming nearly every day for 7 years, I have absolutely no desire to go back to it.
I was thinking about this today when it hit me – I guess I was ready to quit. And yet, I didn’t quit until I was forced due to my shoulder injury. Had this not occurred, I would’ve kept going with my routine.
I now recognize that I was ready to quit both swimming and my gymnastics workouts. I was burnt out. I was frequently getting injured from repetitive motions and overuse. I would have to psych myself up each morning to get going on my workouts. At the pool, I’d sit on the wall for 10-15 minutes working up to jumping into the chilly water and get going.
Yeah – I was ready to make a change. I just wasn’t paying attention to all of the signs.
What just one week earlier seemed like an impossible choice (quitting swimming) suddenly became my only choice because of my injury. The moment I made a decision to quit, I knew it was the right move.
It got me thinking how this isn’t the first time I’ve had this experience.
I had it with a long term girlfriend. Our relationship was great for 3 years while we were both in high school. Once I went to college, we started to drift apart. I was stressed to the max, extremely busy and burning the candle at both ends. She was a Junior in high school, enjoying having the time of her life – as was completely appropriate. We stayed together another 18 months until I broke up with her because it was clear things were slowly fading away. I loved her and didn’t want to break up. But then, one day I realized that if I didn’t, we’d end up not even liking each other.
I had it with many jobs. Several I quit and several I got fired (or euphemistically “laid off”). I stayed at all of them too long despite many obvious clues it wasn’t working out.
I even had it with other exercise programs. I have a track record of getting obsessive, overdoing it and eventually injuring myself. Then, all of a sudden, I decide it’s time for a drastic change.
With the benefit of hindsight, I realize it wasn’t some sudden injury, extenuating circumstance or event outside of my control that triggered these changes.
I was ready all along.