“While Visions of Sugar-plums Danced in Their Heads” – Clement Clark Moore

I must have been around age seven or so when I decided that I was going to become an Olympic swimmer specializing in my favorite stroke from the neighborhood, summer swim team – the breaststroke. 

Never mind that with a small frame and scrawny little legs and arms, I was not built to be a swimmer.  I was a kid, and I had no clue that it takes a 6’ 1”, 165-pound body like that of Missy Franklin to dive in to an Olympic pool.  I just believed that if I trained every day that I would make it there. 

So, I got up each morning and hit the pool early to get in my Olympic training.  I am not sure how long I kept up the daily laps, but it was long enough to earn an end-of-swim season paper plate award that stated something along the lines of “Paula Pridgen, 2000 Olympics Gold Medalist in 100M Breaststroke.”

While during a recent aqua jog at the local aquatic center, this memory came to mind.  Hopefully the lifeguards weren’t watching me too closely or else they probably thought it was strange when I randomly gave a little laugh.  It humored me that here I was at age 27, probably 20 years after I thought I was going to become an Olympic swimmer, and I am back in the pool training again but in hopes of making it to the Olympic Marathon Trials.

Because of my still-healing sprained ankle, I have been spending several days a week at the pool aqua jogging alongside local kids participating in swim team practice.  Watching the youths, I am reminded a lot of my childhood spent in the pool all summer long.  By the time August rolled around, my blonde hair would have turned green from all the chlorine, but I didn’t care.

On My Dad's Back During a 4th of July Pool Game

Maybe it should seem a little silly to be a grown woman and still spending so much time at the pool.  Or maybe it is silly to think just because I am all grown up by most standards, I am supposed to give up on dreams and let go of the fun in life.

In my undergrad Organizational Behavior class at UNC’s Kenan Flagler Business School, I learned that children are sometimes the best problem solvers.  Why?  Because they don’t mind trying a whole bunch of different things and they don’t mind failing.  While adults would waste time sitting around strategizing the best way to solve the puzzle, kids just try one thing after another until they succeed, often doing so long before the adults.

As adults, our values and priorities change.  Instead of letting our imaginations run wild, we promote thinking reasonably and rationally.  Instead of taking chances, we minimize risks.  Instead of running, we walk. 

And as any kid knows, the adults aren’t always right.  While failure is always a possibility, success is never a possibility unless you try.

This holiday season as little ones’ dreams are filled with flying Santas, elves, winter wonderlands, and far-away magical places (I’m still waiting on my ticket to Hogwarts.), I am giving myself permission to occasionally take a break from all the grown-up responsibilities of this month and allow myself to experience the joy and excitement of this time with boundless possibilities, as if I were still seven years old.

Weekly Miles:  One Again….Along with 3.5 hours of aqua jogging. 

This Week’s Beer Choice: Stone Brewing Co.'s Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale  (Being a grown-up has its perks)