Growth = Pain, Part II
"You can't fail. The further you fall, the greater the opportunity for growth and change."
- Julie Newmar
General reference: http://www.gordoworld.com/gblog/2008/01/self-awareness-and-facilitation.html
As many of you know, I look forward to reading Gordon Byrn's weekly blog. Although I have never met the man personally--we do share mutual friends--he seems like a pretty enlightened, and highly achieved human being. Based on what I know of the man, he is they type of person that I strive to be.
His thoughts this week were difficult for me. His material is basically about looking at our bad habits, and the things that we don't do well, and working towards eliminating these things. Some times my strategy for dealing with my "challenges" is to work harder. This makes things better about half the time. Sometimes more work is necessary to get things done better; other times, I need to see what isn't working, and reimagine how to best deal with the issues at hand. Irregardless, it's hard to look right at yourself, and say, "There are things that I am not good at." As much as it pains me to admit this, awareness of these things is the only way to make changes for the better.
One of the things that I have noticed with most adult swimmers who want to improve their efficiency is that they take lessons, but then go back to the workouts and continue to practice their old habits. I see it in myself, which is probably why I can see it in others. I've talked about this with Coach Kevin. Although we don't have a formal plan yet, my mental plan right now is to only swim in a span "correctly." This means I will touch water 3 times per week: two times with Kevin in lessons, and once again on the weekend. My guess is that I will probably have to do that for a few months until my stroke has been reformed.
Anyway, as I make these changes, it's going to hurt. I'm going to be frustrated; I'm going to want to go back to my old stroke; I'm going to be upset that I'm not getting better fast enough. But the good news is that if I am willing to negotiate with my resistance to change, I will improve and things will get better.
So those are my thoughts for today. I'm going to try to get some good writing in tomorrow. We'll see if a good topic comes to mind.
Namaste
- Julie Newmar
General reference: http://www.gordoworld.com/gblog/2008/01/self-awareness-and-facilitation.html
As many of you know, I look forward to reading Gordon Byrn's weekly blog. Although I have never met the man personally--we do share mutual friends--he seems like a pretty enlightened, and highly achieved human being. Based on what I know of the man, he is they type of person that I strive to be.
His thoughts this week were difficult for me. His material is basically about looking at our bad habits, and the things that we don't do well, and working towards eliminating these things. Some times my strategy for dealing with my "challenges" is to work harder. This makes things better about half the time. Sometimes more work is necessary to get things done better; other times, I need to see what isn't working, and reimagine how to best deal with the issues at hand. Irregardless, it's hard to look right at yourself, and say, "There are things that I am not good at." As much as it pains me to admit this, awareness of these things is the only way to make changes for the better.
One of the things that I have noticed with most adult swimmers who want to improve their efficiency is that they take lessons, but then go back to the workouts and continue to practice their old habits. I see it in myself, which is probably why I can see it in others. I've talked about this with Coach Kevin. Although we don't have a formal plan yet, my mental plan right now is to only swim in a span "correctly." This means I will touch water 3 times per week: two times with Kevin in lessons, and once again on the weekend. My guess is that I will probably have to do that for a few months until my stroke has been reformed.
Anyway, as I make these changes, it's going to hurt. I'm going to be frustrated; I'm going to want to go back to my old stroke; I'm going to be upset that I'm not getting better fast enough. But the good news is that if I am willing to negotiate with my resistance to change, I will improve and things will get better.
So those are my thoughts for today. I'm going to try to get some good writing in tomorrow. We'll see if a good topic comes to mind.
Namaste
posted by Zen_Accountant at 3:41 PM
1 Comments:
The article Gordo referenced used the term "bad habits" to describe what isn't working. If I remember correctly the author preferred this to "weaknesses". I guess the former is more positive and is comforting.
It certainly has a different emotional response. So, we all are strong individuals with a few bad habits. Works for me.
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