Sometimes the most audacious endeavors come in the smallest packages. Proud doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about my ten-year-old daughter’s big hearted effort and character over the weekend. Bold, brave, gritty, and courageous. I’m blown away, days after this swim.
We journeyed back home to Coeur d’Alene this weekend for water time and an open water swim. I’ve wanted to swim the CDA Crossing for some time now, but opted to wait until my little shadow could swim it with me. I grew up on Lake Coeur d’Alene, so sharing this experience with Kamiah held steep meaning. Our training swim went well two days before, but in the middle of the night, before our swim, Kamiah freaked out about the distance (1.2 miles) and depth (over 180 feet deep). So, we made the decision right then, that she’d wait another year, do it when she’s ready.
When we arrived at the lake at 6 AM that morning, the water was churning and rough. She came to cheer on daddy. Boarding the Mish-an-nock and Spirit of Coeur d’Alene (the boats from which I watched my dad swim the CDA triathlon as a kid) we journeyed to the center of the lake. There was a great and welcoming energy on the boat Sunday, beautiful people, no sizing up. Midway through our ride out on the ferry, Kamiah who had been clearly marinating, said, “Daddy, I want to do it.” Had the fear vanished? Not at all. We worked through some IFS (Internal Family System) parts work, and got in touch with her ‘Scared’ part, allowed it to speak, listened to it, thanked it, and from there, she (not her part) made the decision that she wanted to do something big.
So, she suited up and at 8:30 AM, she made the leap from the boat (with her dad) and began the long swim to shore. Several swimmers referenced it as the choppiest water they had swam in. It was an intense experience, disorientating at times, but she did it. And she didn’t just do it, she smashed it. Out of over 300 participants, she finished in the top sixty.
We’ve shared a lot of special father/daughter adventures, but something about this one (perhaps it’s that so much of my body’s water molecules are made up of Lake Coeur d’ Alene atoms) puts this experience in a league of its own. Usually a bilateral breather, I stuck to breathing with every other stroke, breathing on my right side so I could keep an eye on my daughter in my wake. With each twenty-twenty five strokes, I’d lift my head, sighting the flagpole, our landmark ashore. And even though the water was cold, and dark, and churning, the joy and peace and comfort I felt, with my daughter swimming beside me is a gift I will always cherish.
She knows all about the growth mindset (thank you Carol Dweck) and on this day, my ten-year-old daughter was able to overcome her fears to accomplish something meaningful and memorable.
I hope her courage can serve as a reminder of what we can achieve when we take the time to check in on our parts, and don’t simply accept the noise and chatter as something absolute and definitive. It’s so easy to get stuck in a fixed (I can’t do this) mindset, but when we embrace the power of the growth mindset, and uncover the courage to jump into the scary waters of the unknown, beautiful results await.
Be Audacious my friends!
With nothin’ but love, mwl