can you end something you never really started?

i have switched blog sites.

www.ohforthelove.wordpress.com

just keep swimming

for many years now i have had a personal motto - just keep swimming. it's not something that i've necessarily advertised or told anyone about. although, i have had it as my screensaver at the stadium (many moons ago) and at home, and therefore have been poked fun of because of it. luckily, i could care less what those particular people thought.

this 'just keep swimming' motto all started with a little blue scatter-brained fish named dory who played a role in a little disney movie called finding nemo. remember the song she sang as they swam through the ocean in search of 'P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney' ?

...just keep swimming...just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...

as silly as it sounds, i found this to be so insightful.

fast forward to sunday december 10, 2006. it was one of those rare sundays when you actually have a couple of really good speakers in sacrament meeting. the story of florence chadwick - an american swimmer - was told and i instantly fell in love with it. her story has enhanced my 'just keep swimming' theme.

florence may chadwick (nov 9, 1918-mar 15, 1995) - an american swimmer.

her biggest contribution to swimming history was on august 8, 1950. she crossed the english channel - from france to england - in 13 hours and 20 minutes, breaking the then current world record held by gertrude ederle. one year later, she crossed the english channel once again, this time from france to england, in 16 hours and 22 minutes making her the first woman to ever swim the twenty miles across the english channel in both directions.

however, florence had another goal she wanted to accomplish. she wanted to be the first woman to swim the 26 miles from catalina island to the california coast. on the morning of july 4, 1952, the icy ocean was covered in fog and she could hardly see the support boats accompanying her to keep away the sharks and to help her if she got hurt or grew tired. after 15 hours of swimming, the fog started to grow thicker and florence began to doubt her ability. she told her mother and her trainer, who were both in one of the support boats along side her, she didn’t think she could make it. they offered encouragement and urged her to continue, reassuring her that it wasn’t much farther. but all she could see was fog. she swam for one more hour before asking to be pulled out of the water. as she sat in the boat, florence realized she was just one half mile away from the california shoreline - her intended destination.

still thawing her chilled body several hours later, she told a reporter, “i’m not excusing myself, but if i could have seen the shore i might have made it.” it wasn’t fatigue or even the cold water that defeated her. it was the fog. she was unable to see her goal.

two months later florence got back into the water to try once more. this time, despite the same dense fog, she swam the 26 miles from catalina island to the california coastline with her faith intact and her goal clearly pictured in her mind. she knew that somewhere behind that fog was land and this time she made it. florence became the first woman to swim the catalina channel.

don't you ever have days when you feel like you are simply drowning and you have used your last bit of energy just to keep your head above the water? we've all had these days. i know i'm not alone. since july 2005 however, it seems i've had more than my fair share. (granted, i've probably brought some of them on myself, but that's beside the point.) some of these times have been internal episondes with no one else the wiser and others have been complete meltdowns (bless my family and close friends). each time, however, i've thought of a little blue scatter-brained fish and a strong, determined, inspirational woman. i've sung dory's little 'just keep swimming' tune in my head and i've been able to swim through the now forgotten drama and i will continue to do so.

i can make it through the jellyfish forest and the sunken scary pirate ship. i can make it through the thick fog, paying no attention to the big waves and the circling sharks. i can keep a vision, a goal, a destination, in my mind and make sure i simply 'just keep swimming' toward it.

thanks be to a little blue animated fish and a goal-setting inspirational swimmer.