"On Water Puddles and Extra Skin"

Back when we lived up in Lynhurst we had a concrete driveway put in. I hired a guy whose work I was familiar with, and who I trusted to do a good job.  I can be a little bit fussy at times about the way things get done, but after explaining exactly what I wanted I was pretty confident things would turn out nicely.  Sure enough, it was a beautiful job.  The surface was just right, the edges were dead straight, and the slope for drainage looked to be perfect.  Every day when I came home from work I would pull into, and admire, my "perfect" concrete driveway.  Until......one day it rained....and I came home to a water puddle right in the middle of my beautiful slab of concrete!!  Oh no!  What was I gonna do?  This couldn't have happened!  It was supposed to be perfect!  Who ever heard of water puddles evaporating?  Crazy!

Believe it or not that continued to bother me for some time despite my rational mind telling me how irrational it was.  After much anguish I eventually came to the realization that I needed to do something about it, and quickly concluded that I had 2 choices.  I could fix the driveway, or choose to think about it differently.  Fortunately sanity prevailed and after a long conversation with myself I chose this approach.  I simply told myself that the water puddle would be my reminder that life was not perfect, concrete driveways are not perfect, and I was not perfect.  I decided that from that point forward the puddle would be my reminder to remain humble in my imperfection.  It worked!  Never again did it bother me and in actual fact became some kind of inspiration.

So much so that every time I come across an unpleasant state of affairs that nags at me, and that I feel the need  to put right, I am reminded of the water puddle.

And that of course is where the 'extra skin' comes into this post.  The other day I bought a very nice pair of compression shorts in preparation for the Bay Race.  They are of course quite snug (compression) and they are also high waisted.  Much to my dismay, when I put them on  they somehow managed to shove all of the extra skin on my belly in an upwards direction, where it proceeded to literally hang in folds over the top of the shorts.  Hmmmm.  A little disconcerting for Joe Fitness to see this in the mirror.  I remember vaguely thinking that maybe a little cosmetic surgery was in order.  But not for long because the 'puddle' came quickly to mind, and I was saved.  Now I had another great reminder to be humble in my imperfection.  And the bonus is that I really like the shorts.

Now what may be the point of all this?   For me at least it serves to support the idea that without humility one will never be able to discover peace.  If you insist on perfection in the things around you, and more importantly in your self, you will always remain unsatisfied.  That's my theory friends!

On the training front I want to tell you that once again I'm back to square one in the swimming pool.  I don't however consider it a setback but rather just another step in the learning process.  I have gone back to the basics but this time I think with a better understanding of balance and relaxation in the water.  I find that I can swim 2 or 3 lengths with everything clicking just right and then it falls apart and I revert back to splashing.  For the first part of every workout I now focus  totally on technique.  I try not to swim a messy lap even if that means I can only do one or two at a time without a break. So far it feels really, really good.  I know that I can quickly  get my swimming endurance up to an acceptable level when necessary, and so the focus for the next couple of months will be on stroke improvement.  Stay tuned.

And Cory, my wife is so happy to have you back picking on me.  Thank you for that because what makes her happy, makes me happy.

And thanks to all for the kind words of support regarding my unemployment.  Please know that it's all good! I am now so looking forward to finishing the Hamilton trips to truly feel like I have time on my hands.  Sixteen more trips, plus one to London to have the teeth pulled.  No problem!

(swim 1000 metres, 7.3 km run)

Almost any difficulty will move in the face of honesty. When I am honest I never feel stupid. And when I am honest I am automatically humble."---Hugh Prather

Let us be a little humble; let us think that the truth may not perhaps be entirely with us."---Jawaharlal Nehru

Love

Peter