Every Thought You Think

“What you focus on grows, what you think about expands, and what you dwell upon determines your destiny.” Robin S. Sharma

I bet you have heard the phrase in New Thought many times before: “What you focus on grows.” I am always amazed how my mind can fixate on the smallest thing and “chew” on it so that the small thing can then become huge and intimidating in my mind. Well I got to experience this concept this morning.

I have written about my swimming adventures before, but today I was a beginning swimmer all over again. A few of my teammates from my swim team suggested I join them in the annual Alcatraz swim that starts at Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay and ends in Aquatic Park – a distance of 1.27 miles. I have done this swim many times before – but realized it had been about 25 years since I did an actual race, and my nervousness about doing this again was huge. This race was with 700 people. Since my schedule had been so crazy this summer I had not been in the bay all that much, so I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it…but there was some part of me that wanted the challenge so I said yes. 

So guess what my mind started chewing on in the days before the race, the day of, and while I was swimming (best read with a 13-year old Valley girl accent…):

“Oh my gawd 700 people all jumping off a boat – I know they are going to swim all over me!!! And the water is so cold! How long will it take me??? Will I be the only one pulled out with hypothermia!? I’m just way too old for this – I did this swim when I was younger and in better shape! Now I am just old and wimpy. Why in the world did I sign up for this? What was I thinking? Who do I think I am to do something so radical? And what about the finish – there are hundreds of people in the stands cheering – looking at me running to the finish with jiggling thighs – will I be able to run through the finish line, or will I be crawling out of the water? Just watch – I will be the only one bitten on the butt by a sea lion!”