I went swimming last night.

It was a big event. I hadn’t been swimming for over three months. I had laser eye surgery and had to wait the appropriate time to go swimming again.

I was a bit nervous upon getting there. What if I splashed too much? What if I was too slow? What if I didn’t remember how to breath correctly? What if’s plagued me and soon I was more anxious about it.

However, once entering the water and I pushed off from the edge of the wall… I was very impressed with how easy it was. For one, I could see where I was going. (Yay for not needing glasses!!!) For another, the strokes that I had worked so hard to improve before the surgery came back. Yes, they were stiff and jerky, and my joints screamed at me while my muscles cramped up. I slowed down. Finding that I was going far to fast, I realized I’d been pushing myself too fast. I wasn’t used to it.

I need to relearn some of the strokes. I needed to concentrate on what my hands and feet were doing, and move them accordingly so I could glide through the water easily then just going hog willy and not really moving but making a lot of waves and maybe punch the cute guy with the really nice eyes and kick the pretty woman while she’s doing her aqua sizing.

After a few laps, I was still a bit rusty. I knew that I would need to keep coming back and practice the strokes in order to pick up again where I had left of several months ago.

In the middle of a wicked lap where I was doing a fine job of side stroking, I realized the same could be applied to writing. I almost swam into the wall, my realization was so profound. I stood up and grinned to myself, salt water dripping into my eyes.

Writing is exercising the mind. If you don’t do it all the time, your mind can’t hold it’s shape. I’m not saying your mind will turn to jelly, and you’ll have jelly for brains. (Okay, maybe I am.) But the similarities are there. When you swim, you build muscle. You body knows what to do. If you don’t go for months at a time and then you try to do a few laps, you’re out of breath, your body hurts, and you just can’t get very far.

It’s the same thing with writing. You need to write everyday to build up your muscle (your brain). After awhile, it’ll come easier to you. You won’t need to work at it as much, and you find yourself getting into the rhythm. It becomes fun, and you end up looking forward to it.

I went swimming last night.

Tonight, I’m going to write.