Over the past 12 months, I’ve had my eyes firmly fixed on a big, hairy, audacious goal. After Swim4TheGulf in May 2023, I felt it was time to re-enter the arena with another swimming challenge, this time early in 2025. This was going to be huge. It all seemed to be going forward as expected – the team was taking shape, we had a plan, and we were executing.
That is, until this week. Over the last few days, a decision was made to postpone the swimming challenge for one year until 2026. At first, this was a difficult pill to swallow. I wanted this to happen so badly. I wanted it now.
But as I’ve allowed time for the dust to settle, I’m now much more comfortable with the decision. There are a number of benefits to delaying for another year. We can focus on doing this expedition once and doing it right. My body will have the best opportunity to work through any niggles. And when we do eventually make this happen, it will have the highest impact possible.
I’m aware I’m not giving any detail away here. You’ll have to wait another year to find out. I can assure you it’s worth the wait. And the time that I’ve given to reflecting over the past few days has given me just that perspective – it will be worth the wait.
It’s hard to accept in any circumstances that something will not happen on the timeline that you expect or want. Trust me, I know. I’m a type A personality. I’m a driver. I make things happen. And if a barrier arises, I find a way to deal with it. I hammer through the obstacle and keep moving forward. But in this case, it didn’t feel right to keep forcing forward on the timeline that I had pre-conceived.
Since the decision to postpone has been made, I’ve come to realise that it’s a blessing in disguise. It feels as though a great weight has lifted. It’s not because of the pressure that I was feeling of having to keep forcing forward; of the short-term pain that comes with balancing training, planning, working, and family life. It’s the lifting of a weight that comes with having made the right decision; of taking the path of patience.
I’ve been on a journey with patience over the last decade or so. As a young twenty-year old, I wanted everything now. I wanted to be successful, now. I wanted the life of my dreams, now. I wanted to have all of my life worries sorted, now. I really didn’t know exactly what I wanted, but I wanted it now. Now, as a sage and creaky thirty-four-year-old, I have a clearer vision of what I really want in life, but I’ve come to appreciate that things don’t always happen on the timescale that you expect or want.
The most important thing, though, is not when something will happen. It’s why it will happen. If your vision is pure and true, if you hold that vision within your consciousness constantly, if you make steps toward that vision on a regular basis, it’s not a question of if. I believe that it will eventually come to pass. You have to believe that the universe will make it happen when it’s meant to.
Hold onto your vision. Work hard, consistently. And above all, be patient. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.
That photo is you I assume. Bloody hell your shoulders & arms look like they are ready for anything! Well done on the decision, most definitely not worth risking if you know you can be more aligned with some more time. Hanging out to find out what it is. My brief swims along to a wharf to do my somersaults in the waitemata are enough of a challenge for my about to be 69 yr old bod in winter waters. Love it but also have to make/force myself walk to the beach each day. Literally when I feel myself resisting, many times I will think of how you had to focus to achieve the massive swims you have been doing