Persist Without Exception

Posted: 1/26/2008
By Jackson W. Leonard
A common essay prompt I have seen for many years is “Explain a single pivotal moment in your life and its impact”. After consideration, I have decided that prompt is a poor one. In my life, I have found that often a single moment does not alter one’s life but one’s actions and mental determination over an extended period of time are what really direct the course of one’s life. This can be seen in my pursuit of a state championship in the sport of swimming and the training I have endured throughout the 2008 summer.

I have spent four years swimming year-round for a club team and because of the demands of the sport, my life has begun to revolve around the pool. A swimmer’s life is demanding and difficult. While swimmers work together in the pool during workouts, it is in actuality a solitary sport which demands mental strength and extreme physical prowess. Swimmers are a different breed of human, as waking up at 4:45 AM four days a week to swim in an eighty degree pool for two hours is not normal behavior. Two practices a day become a routine physical demand as swimmers progress in their abilities, while forgoing social activities due to practices and swim meets become the price of achieving one’s goals. I have made it my mantra to work hard no matter the pain or the cost. Yet it is incorrect to say that I “sacrifice” my time as an athlete to swim and to practice daily because it is actually a privilege. The ability to train everyday and push my body to its limit in order to swim quickly is a privilege that few have and to call that activity a “sacrifice” is incorrect.

At the same time, there is a difference between those swimmers who try and those who try harder. It became my obsession to be known by all who watched me as a swimmer who tried harder than anyone else. After placing 13th in the 2007 State meet, I resolved to make sure absolutely nothing stood in my way of placing in the top three in my final high school swimming season in 2008. My mind was set and no force in heaven or on Earth was going to break my will to succeed. I spent countless hours in the weight room alone lifting and working out until exhaustion. Countless hours were spent with no one there to congratulate me on my efforts or look on in admiration, only my desire to succeed stood with me during those hours. Morning practices became necessary, while extra dry land physical exercises also became increasingly important. My resolve and determination was exceeded by none of my teammates, as was my exhaustion.

As the school year ended and summer began, I became aware it was going to take even more to achieve my goals. I have spent the summer living with my father in another city 80 miles from my mother and my friends. My father is a legendary swim coach and has trained countless age group swimmers and several nationally ranked athletes. His workouts are known to be extremely strenuous and painful, yet they are what create champions. My days with my dad consist of the same routine. A 4:45 AM wake up, a two hour workout, several hours spent teaching children how to swim, a nap, dry land exercises, and another two hour workout. I thought before the summer that I knew what exhaustion was; I was wrong. I have now spent nine and a half weeks training to the absolute limit of my physical ability. There have been nights I have not been able to get up from the dinner table to go to bed because my entire body was wrought with pain. Every morning begins with a groan of desperation and hatred for the cold pool I know I will have to get in within minutes. I fear the different types of workout sets I will have to perform in the pool everyday, as if they are torture instruments. And every night I fall asleep in complete fear and panic due to the possibility of failure. The possibility that I will not achieve my goal after the pain I have endured is the scariest concept I have ever known. It is only once every two weeks or so that I am reassured that I will achieve my goals no matter what stands in my way. It is after a great practice and after swimming with strength and confidence that I am bolstered by my father’s words of encouragement. Knowing he believes in my abilities and determination only fuels me for another week of horrible, yet strengthening training.

It has been through these tough weeks that I have been hardened to perform at the necessary level to achieve the title of state champion. I have also learned the lesson that anything worth having is worth working for. I have additionally learned that it is the accumulation of my actions this summer and the months spent working hard before the summer that I am now able to attempt to complete what I originally set out to achieve. It is through my hard work that I have grown to understand that we are not handed anything in this life without a price and there are no free lunches, breakfasts or dinners. The only way to accomplish any feat in life is to persist without exception.

(I found this article on John Leonard website. I re-post it for my daughter. What he said I feel was absolutatly true. It is not one single mement, but persist effort changes one's life.)