Just Keep Swimming

Today I'm thinking about a story that Scott Shickler shared last summer at the 7 Mindsets University. It's about a legendary swimmer named Florence Chadwick. It was on the fourth of July of 1952, and this 34-year-old woman who had already swum back and forth across the English Channel set out to swim the stormy seas of the Pacific Ocean off of Catalina Islands en route for California. The water was choppy and the weather chilly. A dense fog hung in the air, making visibility so difficult that she could hardly see the boats alongside of her. After swimming for fifteen hours, Florence begged her mom and trainer, in one of those adjacent boats, to allow her to stop, but they told her she was close and encouraged her to keep on. Unable to see the shore, Florence became disoriented and just couldn't go on. She was taken out of the water, only to be told that she was less than a half a mile from her goal. It was the only time she had quit. 

In a news conference the next day, Florence said this:

So my reflection questions today include:

What are the things in life that keep you in the fog?
and 
How easy is it to lose sight of the shore because of that fog?

Who is in your boat, helping you stay the course?
and
What are the benefits to perseverance and endurance?
What are the risks?

If you could talk with Florence Chadwick, what would you ask?
 What would you say? And how would those words help you
to keep on swimming the next time you're in the fog?







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I really enjoy hearing from my readers; thanks for sharing your reflections with us!