Our lives are composed of small puzzle pieces and each of these makes who we are. No one piece is better than the others and it takes all of the pieces to make a perfect puzzle.
I really love sports. All types except those that are related with a ball, and by a ball I mean soccer. I already see me running towards the ball but never reach it, just as a finishing line that is never crossed by. But among the sports, I’m focusing on a particular one, my love, my passion, my puzzle piece. Swimming.
Before starting our dive into the water, let’s clarify something. If you believe that the aim of doing sport is to win a gold medal, then I would suggest you to finish your reading here. As to me, swimming is something that goes beyond this, that is not related with any competition or winning the Olympics. Be careful now not to misunderstand me. Obviously, I would love to win the Olympics, to feel the beat of my heart pulsing at breakneck speed, at the starting block, while waiting for my name to be called. To fly in the water together with the best butterflies of the world, close to “Flying Fish”, Michael Phelps, for example. But, for now, that’s not my premium aim.
I swim in a team since I was four. I still remember the first times in the pool when my mum had to force me to enter in the water while I screamed and cried with all my heart, as I just didn’t want to go there. Then, something made me change my mind completely and convert swimming from the simple sport itself to my passion.
My teammates share my enthusiasm for swimming. It allows us to express ourselves as we really are. It’s our life and it’s essential for our wellbeing to relax and stay in shape in a healthy way. I can imagine what you are thinking. Come on Bibi, swimming is an individual sport, there is no team. Wrong. Wrong. And again, you are wrong. Of course, it’s not like dance, soccer, basketball and I can continue by listing all the others that are made up of teams. In the pool, I know I’m never alone, I’m not the only one to be tired after sixty laps. We are a team.
The words of the coach still resonate in my mind, just like the hail on the road. “Come on, faster with your stokes! Let’s start with 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 50m freestyle and repeat this for four times.” The cycle continues, we feel the sweat in our eyes, our face resembles a pepper for its red color, we are exhausted. Every stroke done equates to an obstacle of our life that has been overcome.
I would love to tell you that this is true, but unfortunately, it isn’t. Swimming has certainly helped me to relieve my stress but not to really overcome lots of problems I faced in my life and especially this year. Many use psychotherapy, medicines and lots of others ways in order to resolve their problems. My “medicine” is swimming. It helped and still helps me with my battle with food.
The story started three years ago during my third year of high school. It’s a very important year in the Italian school as there are totally new teachers and new subjects to relate with. I totally immersed myself in my study, as I feared that without a very hard work I would have never met my goal, to be proud of myself. I was often under great stress and I started to eat less and less until my stomach became as small as a peanut. As I love challenges, I decided to embark myself in a totally new adventure in Australia for a trimester during the summer. It was a wonderful experience, I met lots of amazing friends, but it would be a lie to say that everything was fine. The family that hosted me was composed from just one member. It ‘s enough to say that she was a woman of 67 years old. We didn’t fit each other and she made my life there a real nightmare. Her cooking wasn’t that delicious and she didn’t do anything to make it better. Once, I found a sausage (already cooked) up to the microwave and it stayed there for a few days, until a week later where I discovered it in my plate for dinner. I was disgusted, how could she ever imagine to make me eat anything like that? The problems continued. She started to weigh me every day, to forbid me to go out with my friends, to go to tango lessons (that I did anyway secretly) and worst of all, to go swimming, as she was worried it was too much physical effort for me. In the meantime, my weight continued to decrease and when I came back home, I lost ten kilos. In a few months, with the magic help of my family, and especially that of my parents and my amazing brother, I gained them back but still some problems have remained. I feel sometimes as an accordion, even if my mum calls me “guitar”. There are periods where I eat normally and others where I eat less. Today, I cannot say to have overcome this problem but, certainly, I’m fighting in order to come back “as I was” again.
Those three months without swimming were just terrible. She took my medicine away and I couldn’t survive a lot without it. As you have certainly understood, it’s the only place (other than my real home with my parents) where I feel my self and safe. An Italian motto says, “ Do you eat to live or do you live to eat?” Obviously the answer is very simple: we need food to survive. Similarly, swimming is essential for me to survive, otherwise I would feel just like a fish off from water.
Yes, swimming is my philosophy of life. It’s essential for my health, both the physical and mental one, and now it represents the symbol of my healthy way of living.
Do you ever get the feeling that something is missing? I’m still looking to some puzzle pieces to balance my life and I don’t know whenever I will find them. In the meantime, I consider myself very lucky to have a fantastic family that always supports me in all the decisions and allows me to do fantastic experiences that many of my friends have never had the chance to live. My brother who makes always me laugh even when I’m in my darkest of the days and my best Finnish friend who is just lovely. But wait, didn’t I forget something? Of course, my passion, swimming, and all the fantastic people I met during these three weeks certainly represent unique pieces that can be added to make my beautiful puzzle in the end.
by Bibi Blasio
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