This may come as a surprise to some of you but the 7 views I get on my blog (thanks for reading everyday mom) is not enough to support even my minimal budget of Ramen Noodles and Little Caesars Pizza. Therefore, the majority (all) of my income that I live on comes from hours of lifeguarding at my University’s pool. Now I know what you are thinking, Wow! Lifeguarding you must have saved a thousand people! But jokes on you because I’ve never actually saved anyone. In fact, aside from handing out the occasional band aid the only time I’ve ever helped someone was when I picked up a grown woman who was drowning in waste deep water.

Yes, working at a college pool watching genius professors and college students swim I still manage to encounter a person that could not figure out how to stand up in waste deep water…. And with this one exception when I lifeguard the shallow instructional pool I feel like I am watching paint dry as one or two people ease their way around the small body of water. There are thousands of things I would rather do with my time, including but not limited to: completing a 1000-piece puzzle knowing that there is a piece missing in the box, iron my socks using light starch, and naming livestock as they enter the slaughter house.

Luckily this pool is rarely open because again I work at a college rec center designed for adults and most adults already know how to swim so they have no use for the instructional pool. However, there are a few people that have not mastered the art of swimming and ask for the shallow pool to be open. One gentleman in particular who is like a genius mathematician frequents this pool. He swims for 2-3 hours a day, every weekday for the past two years but is still the same terrible swimmer he was the day he started.

One day this week I had just rotated to the closed instructional pool and sat down in the lifeguard office ready to enjoy my long break when I see the mathematician walk in. I immediately know that the pool is now going to be open for another three hours and mentally prepare myself for the medial task.

As I sat in the guard stand watching this genius fail at trying to master the art of not drowning my mind started to ponder. Now don’t worry I was still focused on my water making sure the gentleman was doing okay and did not need help figuring out how to stand up.

As I sat there lost in my thoughts I began to think about the dedication it takes to do the same thing for two years with little to no progress. He is a professor at a tier one research university so his time is split between teaching and research; He has to be a busy man. Yet he still comes to the Rec Center a few hours a day to “try” and figure out the art of swimming.

Personally I know that I do not have the strength or endurance to do anything for that amount of time with little to no progress to show for it. Heck, it is hard for me to put in that much effort and time into things that I am showing progress in. His dedication to swimming which is something that he is obviously passionate about, was inspiring to me.

Despite how inconvenient watching this guy was, I am thankful that he interrupted my break to unknowingly push me to become more dedicated to the things that matter in my life. To stop cutting corners and save time but rather put in the nessicary effort until I am truly exhausted and cannot continue.

So I challenge you to become more dedicated to those things that are important in your life. And as always make good choices, I’ll see you next Thursday.