January is a traditional time for setting goals for the year and reviewing our longer-term plans. If you’re a swimmer, these might involve swimming. Maybe you want to swim faster or complete a particular swim. You dutifully write down the goal and create a plan to work towards it.
You might then watch the news and, perhaps, feel despair about the state of the world. While we’re destroying our planet and wars rage around us, trying to swim a little faster seems trivial. Nobody cares and it won’t make any difference to anyone but you (and it might not make much difference to you either).
So why bother?
Well, maybe it’s more important than you first think. An ordinary, humdrum life, free from the depravations of war or tyranny, where you can choose what you do with your time, is something millions of people aspire to. It’s a gift we need to be deeply grateful for and to use wisely. Using it to swim, is a good choice. It’s a powerful demonstration of the value of living with freedom and in peace.