The Thrill of Jumping In
By CJ Lockman Hall, M.A.
"The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing,
we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger,
but jump in and scramble through as well as we can."
Do you fear jumping in to a challenge? Happily, you will find that once you jump in, it’s not so bad. In fact, it’s often downright rewarding. Here’s what one athlete said after competing in her first Ironman Triathlon World Championship: "You know, it wasn’t all that hard. Sure, I got tired, but then it was over. And it was an amazing experience." What an experience she would have missed if she hadn’t jumped in!
I took a leap one night during swim practice. After the main set was announced, my lanemates participated in the male ritual of "chest-puffing" to choose the base interval for the set. Jeff* puffed out his chest and said, "So we’ll make our base interval 1:15?" A challenging interval, I thought, but doable. However, Erik* puffed out his chest a few moments later, looked Jeff in the eye, and countered, "So we’re doing these on 1:10, right?" Thankfully, the set started before one of them yelled out, "1:05!"
My tremendous efforts during the next twenty minutes resulted in precious little rest and I even got "negative rest" a few times. However, the thrill of leaving my comfort zone in the dust made it all worthwhile. Tracy Caulkins, 1984 triple Olympic gold medallist and winner of 48 national swimming titles, sums it up beautifully – "There's a thrill when you have a hard set, a rugged workout, and you feel it, and you take it, and you go beyond it."
Do something out of the ordinary today. Go ahead, jump in and scramble through as well as you can. Sure, you’ll really test yourself, but then it’s over – and the thrill of personal victory is a reward that you can proudly store in your mental treasure chest.
CJ Hall swims with the Montgomery Ancient Mariners in the evenings. She writes, speaks, and consults on sport psychology during the day. She is looking forward to future adventures with the "chest puffers."