Why Swim?
In less than 3 months, I’ll swim one mile across the Hudson River.
The challenge is new, but not entirely out of the blue.
Two summers ago, I broke my toe and started swimming laps as a way to dissolve anger, stave off sadness, and stay sane. By the time the fracture healed, I was addicted to swimming.
Last summer, I swam laps in a pool (almost) daily and learned some surprising life lessons.
If you can be anxious, rigid, or a control freak (hypothetically), swimming can help you get over yourself—and go with the flow.
If you’re obsessive, compulsive, or competitive (ahem), swimming can be a healthy outlet for those tendencies.
If you enjoy both solitude and social situations (totally), pools are paradoxical places to be alone and with other people.
If you’re a spiritual seeker, but not necessarily religious (cough), swimming's silent solitude fosters contemplation, meditation, and transcendence.
If you dwell on the past or fret about the future (no judgment), swimming can help you stay present and enjoy the moment.
If you want to improve your writing (who doesn't?), swimming’s repetitive rhythms can help you brainstorm, draft, and revise—both in the water and on the page.
If you suffer from stress, swimming clears the mind and changes perspective.
As Ann Patchett writes in her new novel Tom Lake: “Swimming is the reset button. Swimming starts the day again.”
I could not agree more. No matter where, when, or how I swim, I leave the water refreshed, rebooted, and recharged.
Finally, if you swim regularly, you may start to see swimming everywhere, in suburbs and cities, memoirs and movies, poems and podcasts—and even at a Taylor Swift show.
Do you swim?
If not, why not give it a try?
If so, what’s your swim story?