Saturday, August 3, 2013

" Imi place inotul..."


Richard Bryant, CISSP My own love for swimming is very similar, and I too had learned to become comfortable with the water at an early age, but only came to *love* the pool in these later years.

In my case I had begun playing tennis with my sons (and greatly enjoying it) when I began to develop arthritis in my hips. This devastated my "tennis habit" and was quite depressing.

Then one day about 4 years ago I was getting out of my truck and I happened to glance at the swimming pool that had literally been just a few steps outside my condo for years. I looked up and said ... "God, *surely* you don't want me to GET WET?!?!".

The next day I was in that pool and the love affair began. That first day I got in only 7 laps. For the first couple of years I would take an abacus with me and count each lap, but now I've cast that aside and just swim for the pure joy. When I get in that pool all pains fade away, and I am able to exercise again just as if I were a teenager.

One other thing I'll remark about swimming is that I don't believe the pool is properly appreciated by most people. This is because, as children, it was a place for carefree, unstructured play - usually during the brightest part of the day. However, the *real* benefit of the pool is in the support it provides for highly structured exercise (e.g. swimming laps) ... and I've found that early mornings and later in the evenings are much more pleasant. And, diametrically opposed to the childhood experience, swimming is not a time that is "care free" so much as it is a time to be meditative and sort out one's thoughts.

"Addiction" is a good word ... I think I'll borrow that!

(BTW, since starting swimming those 3+ years ago I've dropped 75 pounds as well - a trend that continues) 
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