Keep Walking

On a hot summer day in San Antonio Texas, I found myself in the middle of a pool, fully clothed, not able to swim, and trying to reach the side of the pool in order to get out. I was given a fair warning before that moment to keep going or I would find myself in the water. I was in basic training, participating in an obstacle course. One of the tasks was to over crawl or under crawl on a rope over a pool. If you hesitated too long you would fall off the rope. Before beginning, I was motivated, seeing some people make it across, allowed me to know that it could be done. I was in line ready to make my move. My heart raced, knowing that I couldn't swim and didn't want to be one of the people who didn't make it across. I positioned myself, grabbed the rope, and began the journey across. I was determined to make it across and determined to not look down at the massive body of water below me. I was halfway across the pool and stopped. In fear, I stopped. I couldn't back up, I couldn't move forward and I was afraid to fall.

As promised, if you stopped, you would fall into the water. There I was in the middle of the pool. The water encircled around my body and up to the upper part of my neck. I heard their laughter. I saw the pointing, but my goal at that point was to live, survive and make it out of the pool. I paced my breathing and began to move toward the left. "What is she doing?" "Hurry up and get out of that pool!" "I think she's in shock." Look how she's moving". I heard the comments, but I had to keep walking.

I was reminded of that moment this week as I persevered to accomplish tasks that presented to be challenging. In my mind I said, "Keep walking, even if you don't see the expected end. I felt assured that as I continued to move forward, everything would fall into place. I couldn't sit to wait for everything to be in a perfected state. That would have been a waste of time.

Continue to walk in the direction of whatever you are pursuing. Block out anyone or anything that attempts to divert you from purpose. Your action makes things happen.