Wherever I live, I make sure it’s close to a swimming pool. I gravitate towards large, outdoor pools with abundant lap swim lanes and once discovered, a part of me relaxes. It feels like coming home, diving into the clear water and seeing the familiar black line that has always kept me aligned. I grew up a swimmer so the water feels like my second home. Recently I was introduced to Lisa Congdon’s book “The Joy of Swimming: A Celebration of Our Love for Getting In the Water,” and she sums up the relationship between art and swimming so eloquently:

So here’s to the swimmers and the artists (that’s YOU!) out there. We all know the hardest part is putting on our suit, bracing ourselves against the cold, walking along the freezing cold pool deck and getting IN the pool. Once we’re in, we’re good. The hardest part for artists is getting started and facing the fear that it ‘might not work’ and just making the thing anyways.

Just keep swimming. And making art. One lap, one brushstroke, one sentence.

But first you have to jump in.