Translation note: This English version was translated by Codex (GPT-5) on 2026-04-20 18:01:46 CST. The source text is the corresponding Chinese post in this repository.
Edited on 2025-09-25
Swimming has been part of my life for many years.
The First Choke
When I was about ten, I jumped into an outdoor pool full of excitement, only to panic and almost drown in the shallow children’s lane. I drank a lot of water that day, but it did not leave a scar. Instead, I quickly learned how to float, copied other swimmers, and slowly figured out the frog kick. My stroke was terribly inefficient, and I remember getting exhausted after less than ten meters.
College
The second important period came in college, during a PE swimming class.
There was a joke at Sun Yat-sen University: if you want to find a wife, choose a Sun Yat-sen graduate, because she will not ask whether to save you or your mother if you fall into water. The joke came from the fact that one graduation requirement was being able to swim 25 meters.
During that class I learned how to use less force when pulling water and kicking. For the final test, I applied for the 400-meter option instead of the basic 25-meter one, which only meant I could receive a special excellence certificate.
I still remember the first 100 meters feeling hard, while the remaining 300 meters became easier as my body settled into the rhythm. When I finally climbed out of the pool and gasped for air, it felt like finishing a challenge that was bigger than expected.
During My Master’s Thesis
The period when I spent the most time in the water was at the end of 2024, when I returned home to write my thesis. I wrote during the day and swam every night around eight. It was partly for weight loss, and partly to briefly escape information overload.
After a year in Hong Kong, life had become crowded with study, internships, and daily errands. Even after dinner and milk tea, my body had gradually become heavier. After going home, I decided I could not keep living like that, so I bought an annual pass at a nearby school pool.
The first time back in the water, I quickly recovered the frog stroke. Skills learned too deeply seem hard to forget, but after 200 meters my lungs and muscles reminded me what aging feels like. Things that once felt effortless had become demanding. Still, being in the water with only a watch and one task left me with a strange sense of calm.
One hour in the pool every day improved both technique and stamina quickly. I went from half an hour of breaststroke, to a kilometer of breaststroke, then slowly switched five lengths at a time to freestyle, and finally swam freestyle the whole way. With pace targets and occasional runs, my fitness improved and my weight dropped until other work took over and swimming became less frequent.
On Time and Effort
I once read that the most important thing in learning any skill is time investment. To me, that seems true for swimming, photography, running, and fitness alike.
People are naturally dissatisfied with the status quo and driven to improve. If you spend enough time, you will keep refining your movements and speed even if you are only comparing yourself with your past self. The things I failed to finish often seem to be the things I did not spend enough time on.
There is also the idea that the sports we like shape our minds in return. Swimming and long-distance running both require long periods of private focus, and both build endurance and resilience.
When I swim, I sometimes close my eyes completely and imagine myself in an endless ocean, hearing only the quiet white noise of water. Loneliness can suddenly feel overwhelming, but being in the water also brings a sense of safety, as if it reminds me of being in the womb.
When I open my eyes, I am relieved to find that I am still in a pool, not on a deserted island.
The Other Shore
Swimming and running both remind me of the Latin phrase Per aspera ad astra.
I also think of a line from a Cantonese oral English exercise in Guangdong: “Life is like the sea; only the strong-willed can reach the other shore.”
So I keep swimming, and I keep running. When I am tired, I rest for a while, and then I continue. I believe I will reach the other shore someday.