When I drive over the bridge for my morning swim, I can sometimes make out the currents moving and swirling in the channel. I cast my eyes to the cove, and sometimes I can see the currents there, too.
The ocean is full of currents. Along the shore, in the bay and the channel, shifting in the cove. In deeper waters, a current can run at one depth and in the direct opposite direction at another.
When I scuba dive, I love a drift dive, where I deliberately drop into a current and let it carry me past thunderheads of fish, big and small, as I rush past the reef in all its glory. The faster the current, the better. It feels like I’m flying.
On my morning swim, currents can vary with the tides and time of day. Sometimes on a long swim, we will head out into a current; and, when we turn, we discover the current has turned, and we swim back into a current. Those are challenging days.
When I swim, I enjoy the current. When we are heading in the same direction, I use a lazy stroke and let the current carry me. I accept the gift and grace of that extra lift.
Most days I accept the challenge of a head-on current. In a particularly strong current, I put my head down and dig in. I purposefully put more pressure in my pull, and I add a bit of kick. I think of my college crew days, rowing three-seat: drop the blade in the water, catch, and whale on the oar to move the boat past the ensuing puddles.
Same thing swimming. Drop my hand in. Catch. Leverage my pull against my weight and move my body forward.
I like a challenge. I like to make headway against a current.
There are days when I’ve been swimming too long and/or the current is too strong. I grow fatigued. I remind myself that if I stop moving forward, the current will push me backward.
And sometimes when I’m tired or uninspired or unmotivated or overwhelmed–physically or emotionally, I will ease up. I may let the water carry me. I’ll look at the sky or the shore, remind myself of the beauty, catch my literal and spiritual breath. Then I put my head down and swim, again.
These are hard days, trying days. Some days I move with the currents of sadness and grief. Some days I have to put my head down and swim against some pretty tough currents.
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