Keeping the Pace
One of my favorite exercises is swimming laps in a pool. It started when I went through the lifeguard training as a 16-year-old and has been something I enjoyed throughout my life. I’ve gone several years without lap swimming, but at the beginning of 2020, I finally got back in the pool. It has been a good exercise to strengthen my back and provided great cardio exercise. In addition, while all other gyms had closed, the pool opened back up quicker during the COVID close down.
Like most good things in my life, there are lessons to be learned. The first lesson is that I cannot swim as fast or as long as I used to. That should not have been as surprising as it was to me. I really wanted to jump right back in where I left off the last time I worked out like this, but that isn’t how the body is made. Muscles left unworked tend to break down over time, they atrophy. Atrophy is an interesting process, the decline of muscles over time leads to ineffectiveness at best, and complete failure at the worst. I did not experience complete failure but muscles that helped me glide through the water in the past certainly failed me in those first few weeks.
Another observation I made was that my pace was not what it used to be, in fact, I felt downright sluggish in the water. Some of the days, in the beginning, I felt like I was swimming in a thick soup. Eventually, I regained my strength and on some days felt like I could really move through the water. On one of those days, feeling a little stronger than most days, I thought I would keep pace with the young swimmer in the lane next to me. I gave it a good effort and lasted almost a full lap before I was gassed out. The young swimmer hardly noticed my effort when they made their kick turn at the wall and continued for several hundred more yards!
Two important takeaways from my time in the pool this year; 1) Muscle atrophy is a serious loss to the body. The amount of energy it takes to rebuild muscle due to inaction is astounding. Similar to that spiritual atrophy has much more dire consequences. When we fall away from the habits that help us grow spiritually, it seems it is even more difficult to regain those habits.
The second takeaway is about pace. I learned in the pool that you have to work at your own pace, you can’t try to adapt to your neighbor’s pace. They are on a completely different training path than you. In my spiritual life I have to remind myself of the same concept. The comparison game will never get me where I need to be, but will always take my eye off of where I am going. I’m reminded of Galatians 6:4 in the New Living Translation says:“Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.”
Great words to be reminded of as I head back to the pool this week.