The 50 metre outdoor swimming pool in our village, the one I’ve been swimming in all summer, closed a few weeks ago. There’s an indoor swimming pool in the same village that’s just opened, but hmmmm, it’s very small and, well, there seems to be a cultural difference between UK and German swimming etiquette. (GERMAN PEOPLE, WHY CAN’T YOU JUST SWIM IN A STRAIGHT LINE, HUH?. UP AND DOWN. IT’S EASY!)
After some serious Googling, I’ve found another pool a few towns away and on certain days, they have sessions allocated for swimmers who are training. I really want to go, but there’s a problem. The drive there is challenging. Probably not for most drivers, I must admit, but for me – someone who doesn’t like driving AT ALL – it’s a real issue. I have to navigate some really winding roads, you see, and a junction that scares the shit out of me. Also, there’s the whole driving-on-the-opposite-side-of-the-road-thing, that I’m still not completely used to since moving here a few months ago and also: German people seem to drive extremely fast and tailgate you and oh-my-god, my hands are just sweating thinking about it.
All in all, I want to go swimming but the drive there is a huge hurdle.
And I feel frustrated and stuck and irritated with myself.
Because I’m the one holding myself back from doing something I really want to do. My fear is getting in the way. There’s no-one else to blame but me. And don’t I just know it.
Most of us live our lives like this, don’t we?
There are things we WANT to do or have or try in life, and yet there’s a hurdle that stands between where we are right now and having that thing we want.
The hurdle sometimes looks like fear or time or knowledge or money or support or uncertainty.
And because we don’t know how to get over the hurdle, or more often, because we REFUSE to learn how to get over the hurdle, we experience a stuck feeling in our lives. And it fucking sucks.
Well, my friends, I’m going to get in the car and drive to the swimming pool. I’m going to drive right up to that hurdle and look at it. Really look at it. Because it’s just a hurdle. And hurdles can be jumped over.
(If you can’t jump, you can also ninja-kick it over. No black belt required).
Whatever works.
What’s your hurdle right now, and what is it going to take for you to get over it?