Living the life of a swimmer is the best experience. However it is also one of the hardest.
I love what I do, and I am passionate about swimming.
Alongside my love for swimming, I hate it too.
It is a feeling that is impossible to explain, but one you can deeply experience.
Swimming is like drinking a cup of water, you cannot explain the taste or texture; but you understand it.
Swimming frustrates me, it drives me up the wall, and makes me feel emotions I have never experienced before. It brings me happiness, but it also brings me tears.
Swimming is definitely not my favourite sport, or my hobby, or my interest. It is way more complex than that: It's the nauseous feeling after a hard practice, the lack of oxygen in my arms and legs, and the pain I feel every stroke I take... as if I can not go on.
Swimming is when my body says "I'm done", but the voice in my head repeats over and over again "keep going".
Swimming is not only my passion, it is my life. It is what I look forward to every day. Waking up at 5 o'clock, and going to sleep at 8 o'clock. It is how I spend my mornings before school, my nights after school, and my weekends.
Swimming is my favourite thing to talk about, and the one thing I would never give up for anything or anyone. It reminds me of who I am, and who I want to be. When I lose myself, swimming helps me find who I am once again.
Swimming is the tears that run down my face when I miss my last chance to qualify for provincials or nationals by three one hundredths of a second. Or the feeling I did not try hard enough, or I could have done better. The feeling of regret, and the feeling of emotional distress. The way you feel emotionally drained because you failed to reach a goal you've had for years. It's those five minutes you're totally convinced you're done swimming, and you'll never race again. But than you realize quitting would be impossible. You let this pain, this agony, and this disappointment disappear. You pick yourself up, and once again you become invincible.
Swimming opens me up to a new world. A world of people like me; with the same devotion and love for swimming as I have. My team is not only my teammates , they are my family. My coach is my third parent, and my teammates; my brothers and sisters.
Swimming is the feeling of how much tougher and internally stronger I will become if I can make it through this set. It's the feeling of adrenaline running through my veins just before I step on that block and become untouchable. The feeling I get when I realize I did it, I made it: I did what I never let anyone tell me I could not do.
Swimming is everything. It is those practices you think will never end, and the excitement of good competition. It is when your coach makes you angry and you throw your cap and goggles at him. Swimming is the good, and the bad. Through it all, I would never give it up.
Swimming is not just a sport. It is a lifestyle.
