Life's a lot like swimming

In a recent swimming class, I had to practice the butterfly stroke. The butterfly stroke is one of the more exhausting strokes. You need to maneuver your body up and down under water using your legs, and launch yourself out of the water using your arms.

You can safely say that our bodies were not made for swimming. Unlike fish, we don't have fins, and you have to do a ton of practicing to streamline your body. A lot of body parts stick out that create drag. You also can't breathe underwater.

Like all swimming strokes, the butterfly stroke is a combination of power and elegance. Push too hard and you get exhausted without gaining much, push too little and you'll feel like you're slowly sinking. You can look at it like a normal distribution (not actually a normal distribution).

Technique matters as much as strength in swimming. You can't just power your way through the pool. If you do, you'll run out of breath before you finish the lane.

Lastly, there are multiple ways to do a stroke. You can breathe once every few strokes. Or breathe every stroke. The way you hold your hands is up for debate.

Now all these things apply to life too.

• We're 'not made' for a lot of things. Waking up to an alarm. Sitting at a desk. Eating processed foods.
• The more you try to power through something, the more exhausted you're going to get. It's about balance.
• There's not one perfect way to do something. There are good fundamentals. Putting in effort. But there's not one perfect stroke everyone can perform. You need to find your own perfect stroke.

And all these things apply to your butterfly stroke. You learn a lot about life while in the pool.