Life coaching for women

swimming in the crawler lane

My last posting was all about how important it is to practice, practice, practice. I was relating this mantra to my swimming, but the point was that any new skills or behaviour, new habits, new ways of thinking, have to be repeated again and again until they become 'what you do'.

So here's the proof of the proof of the pudding. In the past week practice has moved me towards being a confident and able swimmer. I'm even starting to enjoy it!

In the wake of last week's debacle I did lots of dry land practice; the best venue was our bedroom, plenty of space to get my arms going like windmills, turning my head to one side to gulp in air every two or three strokes, just like my swimming teacher showed me.

 

glug glug

Ah well, there you go. 'Do as I say not as I do' has reared its ugly head again. Practice, practice, practice - again and again I remind clients who are learning new skills, forming new habits, adopting new ways of being, that change is not an overnight easy fix. It requires dedication and commitment.

So when it comes to swimming, I need to get a grip, maybe take some of my own medicine. I was doing so well when life intervened (no, hang on, I'm not making excuses, not yet anyway), and I couldn't get to the pool for about a month. We've been away or I've had meetings to go to, I've been rehearsing. All manner of perfectly legit stuff. Honest, guv.

swimming at the edge

I've been to the pool twice since my first swimming lesson. The exercises I was set were

1. Take a big breath and then stick my head under the water and do front crawl until I run out of breath, stop take a deep breath (several actually) and do it again.
2. Holding a float, in a way that I think I may have forgotten, go through the water kicking my legs in a crawl fashion whilst turning my head to the right, gulp air, stick head under water breath out ('bubble, bubble, bubble' Susan said), head to right again.

I've also to do backstroke, but I am very concerned about crashing into people.
Interesting to read Rowena's comment on the 'swimming' posting. I discovered on one of my last 2 trips to the pool, that the 'deep' end in Todmorden is actually not as deep as it is in some pools. I can, if I stand on tiptoe, actually breathe whilst standing up! Amazing.

learning to crawl

I'm always on at my clients about negative assumptions. Things we believe to be true which we never question and which prevent us moving forward in our lives. This week I've uncovered and exploded not one but four of my own negative assumptions.

After my swimming success of last week (and let’s face it ‘I can’t swim’ was one huge negative assumption on my part) I decided to up the ante the next time I went to the pool.

swimming

I never learned to swim as a child - my mother didn't let me go to the baths except with school(which didn't actually stop me from going, but I never really engage with the swimming per se). As an adult I taught myself to float and then to do appallingly bad breast stroke. Never once have I done anything more than attempt to swim a single width. And I haven't been in a pool (other than a very tiny one on holiday this year) for donkey's years.
Having past the driving test it is time for a new challenge - and swimming appears to be it. I've booked myself in for some one-to-one lessons; the first is in a couple of weeks.
Last Friday however, on a whim Dave and I went to the nearby town of Todmorden, to the baths.
I imagined I'd just float about a bit, get bored and head fr the cafe - my usual modus operandi.

next challenge

I've just signed up for a great eprogramme - it's called Year to Slim which is a powerful, year-long, nutrition, diet and natural weight loss e-mail program - created and supported by a Registered Nutritionist and a Life Coach. I've never 'done' diets, simply because I know they don't work and I hate the whole massive industry that sprung up around them.

I like the idea of taking a whole year to build up new habits - this is what I need to do. I sent this email to the support forum to introduce myself and it'll help explain what I'm doing it for:

As a young woman I was quite small really – I didn’t realise it at all – but at 5’3” and 8.5 stone I must have been (I know this because my sylph-like younger daughter aged 21 is same height and ½ stone heavier). I had 3 children and at the end of that had added over a stone that was permanent.

In 1988 I began a new relationship with a man who is a fab cook and used to eat for his country. We also used to drink quite a lot – pints generally and several of them, though only once or twice a week. By 1997 I had got up to about 12 stone and considered myself a ‘big’ woman. Now, if I’d been happy or healthy I wouldn’t have had a problem with this. That summer I decided things had to change.