Finding your Batman T-shirt
There are a lot of so-called amusing, inspirational quotes to be found on the internet and most of them, to be frank, are pretty tiresome. Nevertheless, I came across one the other day which I quite liked. It said “Whatever you do today, do it with the confidence of a four-year-old in a Batman T-shirt”. .
It reminded me of a little kid who lives in my street who, clearly into his super-heroes, would often be seen walking down the road proudly wearing the Batman logo on his chest, a red cape and a Spiderman mask, whilst carrying a plastic sword. It was the cutest thing ever. Especially if it was wet and he also had his Froggy wellington boots on. I don't know who he thought he was exactly but I know he thought he was invincible. Anything was possible. Anything was achievable. And he was probably right..
Photo by TK on Unsplash
Sadly that was a few years ago now and he has out-grown these sartorial declarations of superiority. Which is a shame because maybe he doesn't feel quite as untouchable as he once did. I suppose it comes to us all with time and experience. But what a pity that is. Wouldn't it be great to approach life knowing that anything was possible and anything was achievable? I'm sure, like me, you have had the good fortune to meet people who have managed to cling on to just a little bit of that attitude and found them to be both engaging and inspirational.
All this, of course, is true of life in general, but if we boil it down to the narrow spectrum of our swimming we can see what a difference a positive mental attitude can have. Often we are faced with a challenge which seems insurmountable. An aspect of the stroke which we have struggled with, perhaps for years, whilst never seeming to have made any significant progress.
If we analyse the reasons for this it can become a bit puzzling. Is this task physically demanding requiring huge strength or flexibility; is it impossible to master unless you are at the absolute peak of physical perfection? The answer is almost certainly “no”. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, taught by SwimMastery coaches which cannot be perfected by anybody with a normal range of movement across all limbs. And even if you aren't blessed with this, adaptions can often be made.
The barrier to progress then might be, at least partially, down to the mental attitude with which you approach your swimming. As Henry Ford said (admittedly not about swimming!) “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right” or alternatively and more succinctly from Virgil “They can conquer who believe they can." (Yes, I looked that up – I don't read Virgil as part of my daily routine!).
Just because you know something is possible and that you have the ability to achieve it though, doesn't mean that success will follow automatically. Often you will fail many times. But the important thing is to look upon these failures in a positive light. As an opportunity to learn rather than an excuse to give up. What went wrong? Why? What can be changed? Can the task be broken down into more manageable chunks? Do I need help? What sort? Where from? And so on and so on.
Make sure you are always wearing your Batman T-shirt.
Even superheroes have their off-days. I'm sure Spiderman occasionally slammed face-first into a wall, that Superman tripped over his cape and that the Batmobile failed its MOT at least once. But keeping a positive outlook on life, knowing that they could not be defeated in the end, enabled these guys to keep saving the world. And if they can do that, I'm positive you can apply the same to your swimming.
