A Ruined Swim?
Tags: Life Lessons, Prompt, Short Story, Journal, Mindfulness

How my actions and my lack of mindfulness ruined my swim on Sunday:

Most people here know how important my swims are to me each day. I look forward to them most days and lately they have been empowering and filling me with energy positive. Energy positive means to me that I have more energy after finishing than before I started.

I had a couple hours before capturing a beautiful sunrise. I had read a few articles and went through my Medium notifications. I just want to say that when I see that notification signal indicate that someone resonated with something I wrote I feel humbled and special. It doesn’t matter if it is clapping, highlighting, or responding. Does anyone else feel that way? I know I am crazy but I like that more than the pennies a day I earn from writing.

So I grab my new TYR swimming backpack. That in itself because it is designed to carry all of my stuff and fits my winter clothes while I swim. I go in and remove my sweats, put on my goggles and notice I don’t have my cellphone. That has happened before. I get in the pool and start my laps.

Within three or four lengths of the pool, leaving my phone in my car as gone to my phone and wallet are in sight in my car. I have a “secret” hiding place in my car to store my wallet. I do that because one time I had a lock cut off my locker and money and credit cards stolen. They thankfully left the wallet and ID when they did that.

By the eight length my racing mind had me forgetting to lock my car. My passport card in the hands of some foreign spy. Me thinking how it is going to take weeks to replace everything. I kept trying to recapture the swim. I kept telling myself that my car was locked. I kept telling myself that I always put my wallet in that secret place when I get into my car. It is like buckling my seatbelt. I kept telling myself that I always lock my car.

Of course my wonderful mind tells me that yes you lock it until you don’t. Pointing out that day a few weeks ago that you walked out of the gym and didn’t hear that magic sound of the door unlocking itself. My mind telling me that there must be people that walk the parking lot looking for ALL the people leaving wallets and phones out and forgetting to lock their car.

By the fifteen length I know that the swim is a lesson in mindfulness. I know that there is no way that I am going to be able to clear my head of the negativity. I know my body will not suffer if for this one day I do not swim sixty lengths of the pool. I know that this situation has been a gift. A gift? Yes, the gift of knowing how infrequently these kinds of thoughts enter my mind. How my swims are virtually always active meditation for me. How this obstacle has shown me how strong my mind usually is.

At the end of the twentieth length I climb out of the pool, forgo my stretching, and go quickly shower. I go out to my car. Finding the door locked, the wallet in its magic place. The phone sitting in the storage spot it usually is in. I quickly think about going back in and finishing my workout. I think about putting back on that now cold, wet swimsuit. About “drying” off with a wet towel.

I get in the car and thank myself for gifting me how wonderful my mind usually is. I thank myself for how great my swims usually are. I drive home thinking how great it is going to be to get in the pool on Monday. I think how this is a great lesson and that I will be more conscious of putting my phone and wallet where they need to be for a long time from now.

I am off to the pool now. I am thankful I got this off my chest. I wanted to tell someone this all day yesterday but felt so silly to do so. Something so trivial doesn’t need to be shared with a friend. So instead I share it with my family of 92.

Thank you for letting me clear my chest and enjoy today’s swim.