Monday, January 7, 2008

Taking Things A Little Too Literal

My brain tail has caused me to take things too literally lately. True story!!!

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim, swim.
Since it has become pretty much impossible for me to run anymore without my legs going numb I have taken the plunge and fully embraced swimming again. I was on the swim team as a child up until I was in eighth grade. I occasionally won ribbons at swim meets, but I wasn't an all-star swimmer by any means. Honestly, I never felt completely committed or passionate about swimming, ever, but since I can't do much of anything else now I am finding a new found love in swimming.

I have about 24 days left of brain tail training ~ how, you ask, do you train a brain tail??? It's all about strengthening the mind, endurance, push past the point where you want to throw in the towel and quit. I know that recovery is not going to be easy, but will feel encouraged, hopeful and strong if I have tested my mind and know that I have the power to push through when the going gets tough. Swimming has proven to be the perfect training tool available to me right now.

I swam a mile last Friday and the hardest task wasn't having enough energy in the water, but rather keeping track of how many laps I had completed. Since brain surgery has brought to the surface a profound need to do a mini 'life review', I found a neat way to keep track of the laps. With each lap number, I would think about what I was doing at age 10, 11, 12...16, 17, 18...23, 24, 25... I was lost in a swirl of memories and wasn't really thinking about how long I was swimming and the time just flew by.

So, what's a girl to do while she is counting down the days until brain surgery ~ just keep swimming.




PS ~ Thanks Mom and Dad for encouraging me to stay on the swim team even though I cried all the way across the pool at my first swim meet when I was six. It would have been so easy to quit back then, but with your love and encouragement I learned how to keep going. Who knew that moment result in many years of swim team, life guarding and me teaching others how to swim!

2 comments:

Q said...

So in recovery we can all remind you to "keep swimming". I am so excited for, and nervous for you. Excited for obvious reasons, and nervous just because I know how nervous I was. However, in those final moments prior to the zipper, all I could feel was God's arms around me. I am praying the same for you!
Q

lzwitty said...

I understand about your brain fog. Unfortunately, mine is still going strong post-surgery as I had a big brain-fog moment Saturday. I backed out of the garage but neglected to put the garage door up first. Luckily, I wasn't gunning it when I backed up so it could have been worse but my goodness, how embarrassing!