A Swimming Lesson

          One day at swimming lessons I was feeling ambitious, and I asked my students to swim the entire length of the pool—a huge undertaking for level two students. Each one of them set out into the pool determined, and each one lifted themselves out on the other side, beaming with pride and excited by the stunned looks on their parent’s faces. All of my students completed the challenge, except one little boy who watched from the edge of the pool. I was not surprised that he did not join his classmates, because was still afraid to put his face in the water. I was ready to move onto the next part of our lesson when the little boy tapped me on the shoulder. He told me he was ready to do it. My heart fluttered. In my mind I imagined the boy jumping in the water and swimming the entire length of the pool. 

            But he did something much different than that. He lowered his little body slowly into the pool, took a gulp of air, and plunged his face into the water. His mother started crying. Even though her son was the least talented of the swimmers, she was by far the most proud parent in the room.

            The boy lifted his face out of the water, wiped the water from his eyes, and gave me a big, toothless smile. His classmates looked at him, waiting for him to try swimming his lap. But I knew he was done for the day. He’d put his face in the water, and that was enough for one day.

            That boy made me stop and think about what it meant to be successful. He surely wasn’t the most skilled of my students, but he was the most satisfied with his accomplishments. Maybe it’s not the outstanding things you achieve, the gold metals, the shining awards, but rather the small things that add up that make you truly successful.