Wow, three years ago today I swam across Okanagan Lake. I can believe that I did it in under three hours. It felt like the water is my space that I am free of having cerebral palsy, and I can imagine that I am a dolphin in the free water. When I was young, I always wondered what if I wasn’t born with cerebral palsy. Would I be a swimmer in the Olympics like my twin sister, who was a swimmer, and I get to watch her swim, and she went to the national championships? I was so proud of her, and then I got into Special Olympics swimming, and I felt like I could be like her.
That is when I got in the water. I imagine myself in her body, and I know that it is strange. But it honestly was a good thing to have that kind of energy in my life to push me to be active. And there was a lady who was my physiotherapist, and she and I had a relationship that I couldn’t even begin to explain, but it was a hate and love relationship. Occasionally I was doing something that she got angry with me about, and I said I don’t care. But she was so much more than my physiotherapist, and I wondered if I would just listen to her and not be so anxious about what she would like me to do. I had a mini stroke nine years ago, and I had to take off a year from working out or being active, and I just couldn’t do anything for myself, and that was a big mistake on my part. I was so scared that I couldn’t do anything for myself, and I would lose my independence. So I went back to working out, and then I got back into the water again, and I felt like my old self. I feel like I want to push myself, so in the summer my roommate and I went out to Okanagan, and we saw Swim Across the Okanagan. So I decided to go to the swim. I decided to do the swim when I turned 40 so that I had a year and a half to get ready for the swim. And then COVID came, and that world stopped, and I felt like I had to find something else to do for me to keep active, and I just didn’t want to break all of my independence.
At the time I just watched a show called Amazing Ninja Warrior, and then I thought to myself that I would like to do something like that. So I go online and see if I can find a place here in where I live that I can go and get some workouts, and then I find a place called Corfit, and then I work with a personal trainer, and she is a wonderful person, and I am so happy to be able to work with her. I don’t know if she would ever know that I am so grateful for her because she has helped me with the control of my hands, and I don’t shake when I put something down.
I have a goal that I really want to do two other swims next summer. Because I feel like I won’t be able to do another swim like that. I won’t stop working out, but I know that it’s been easy for me to do big accomplishments like swimming across Okanagan Lake. I’m not going to let my disability define me, so I won't stop being active, so I will continue to do everything that I can until I can’t do anymore.
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