Sink or Swim
“Poverty is uncomfortable; but nine times out of ten, the best thing that can happen to a young man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to sink or swim.”
~ James A. Garfield, American President
Sink or swim – when you’re wading in the midst of a wide width of sea, those are your only options. Head for shore, or bob up and down until you drown.
Not too different from life.
When we spot something at the edge of our horizon, and we desire whatever that something is, it isn’t enough to simply wait. Providence is not often so kind. It’s up to us to pump our arms and propel ourselves forward. We must sink or swim, the chances of that special something bubbling beneath our bobbing noses is, perhaps, just a reduced fraction better than the odds of getting all five numbers in the Powerball.
Before Cindy and I opened our pre-school, I worked in a flower shop for twelve years. I loved working alongside my family in a pleasant environment. Despite the occasional stress and relentless hours, I performed well and enjoyed the constant feeling of consistent success.
Then why did I decide it was time to sink or swim?
I was treading water. As soon as I started to ask myself the tough questions, it was impossible to falsify answers. I realized I was doing the dog paddle and knew it was time to get out of Dodge.
Our pre-school was no different. I adored the house full of children, and each of the families they went home to, but Cindy and I slept with a low ceiling above us, and four walls that we could only leave as we scrambled from point A to B and back.
Life is best without shackles; sink or swim it’s up to us.
Ours is a new dawn, where anyone with a reasonable amount of intelligence, balanced beside productive time management, can carve out a decent living. Life is no longer forced to fit within the same set of standards established by the last several hundred years of ruling elite.
I’m not talking about the fortunate few endowed with an incredible, unique skill. I mean anyone who knows how to breathe.
Drive to work, finish the week, cash your paycheck, purchase the essentials (alongside the frivolities), buy some more, refinance, drench yourself in sweat the second the economy buckles…
I’d rather sink or swim. The old way just isn’t enough.
If life isn’t working, change your behavior. Do without. Go hungry. A diet doesn’t have to be about food. Find what you want from life, then figure out a way to work toward it. I knew what I wanted, and I gave myself a year. Half the pages have fallen from that calendar and right now I’m surrounded by nothing but blue.
It’s my time to sink or swim.
Writer Dad
NOTE: Darren Rowse has reviewed the Blueprint’s book about starting a blog, and gave it a giant high five! We also have an interview with him up at the Blueprint. Check it out!
Note #2: I am now swimming toward shore. Ghostwriter Dad is doing well and I’m enjoying writing custom wedding vows and SEO Web Copy full time.
About Sean Platt
Sink or Swim
by Jonathan Cretsinger
Pain what is your game? You have pulled me into this drowning pool. I am getting dizzy from going round and round with you.
Please step a little closer, so I can vomit all over you. You are a miserable piece of work, but you have had all eternity to practice your crafty art. God damn you for tearing me apart!
If it was not enough, you bring along your friends Loneliness and Despair. Is your goal for me to pull out all my hair?!
Do me a favor. Don’t move. I need time to reload. *hit! I’m all out of ammo. Hand to hand combat would be nice, but since you have none, I will have to run to a new hiding place.
How does Pain find me, this new friend of mine? From the moment we meet, my life has not been the same.
Hello, operator. Is my name listed in the misery game? Who is it that is calling and asking for me by name? Please tell them I am unlisted from this hall of shame.
Pain, I’m not checking out of the mortal game, so do us a favor, and stop changing the rules to this *ucking game!
Just when I think I know how to play, you pull a fast one and I’m having a tough time from going insane.
Do you enjoy seeing the misery that I am in? Unable to sink or swim? I’m caught up in your whirlpool of sorrow and self-pity.
Please, I need help from above! Send me an angel to save my soul and deliver me from this drowning pool Pain has me dizzied in.
Send me my angel that is standing so near the edge. What is her plan as I struggle to work this one out? I know she has been here before, for that is what gives her the strength to keep herself from pulling me to shore.
Must I drown in order to live? Must I give in to surrender in order to survive? This is a strange battle I don’t know if I will really win.
The weapons I have collected throughout my life are not working, and I feel that I am running out of time.
My angel of love, will you at least wind my watch of endurance in hopes that it will be enough time for me to find a new source of reassurance?
I don’t want to drown in this sorrow pollution. It has a bad taste and I feel I am getting numb as I search for my solution.
Must I surrender to you Pain in order for you to cease? Just tell me how, but I know I will resist.
Just one last thing to say, before you tighten your grip and deliver that life threatening twist, but I need your full attention.
…… You will NEVER win!
— Copyright © 2001 Jonathan Cretsinger
Notes From The Author:
To those who are thinking about giving up: There is light at the end of the tunnel.
Sink or Swim
by Jonathan Cretsinger
Pain what is your game? You have pulled me into this drowning pool. I am getting dizzy from going round and round with you.
Please step a little closer, so I can vomit all over you. You are a miserable piece of work, but you have had all eternity to practice your crafty art. God damn you for tearing me apart!
If it was not enough, you bring along your friends Loneliness and Despair. Is your goal for me to pull out all my hair?!
Do me a favor. Don’t move. I need time to reload. *hit! I’m all out of ammo. Hand to hand combat would be nice, but since you have none, I will have to run to a new hiding place.
How does Pain find me, this new friend of mine? From the moment we meet, my life has not been the same.
Hello, operator. Is my name listed in the misery game? Who is it that is calling and asking for me by name? Please tell them I am unlisted from this hall of shame.
Pain, I’m not checking out of the mortal game, so do us a favor, and stop changing the rules to this *ucking game!
Just when I think I know how to play, you pull a fast one and I’m having a tough time from going insane.
Do you enjoy seeing the misery that I am in? Unable to sink or swim? I’m caught up in your whirlpool of sorrow and self-pity.
Please, I need help from above! Send me an angel to save my soul and deliver me from this drowning pool Pain has me dizzied in.
Send me my angel that is standing so near the edge. What is her plan as I struggle to work this one out? I know she has been here before, for that is what gives her the strength to keep herself from pulling me to shore.
Must I drown in order to live? Must I give in to surrender in order to survive? This is a strange battle I don’t know if I will really win.
The weapons I have collected throughout my life are not working, and I feel that I am running out of time.
My angel of love, will you at least wind my watch of endurance in hopes that it will be enough time for me to find a new source of reassurance?
I don’t want to drown in this sorrow pollution. It has a bad taste and I feel I am getting numb as I search for my solution.
Must I surrender to you Pain in order for you to cease? Just tell me how, but I know I will resist.
Just one last thing to say, before you tighten your grip and deliver that life threatening twist, but I need your full attention.
…… You will NEVER win!
— Copyright © 2001 Jonathan Cretsinger
Notes From The Author:
To those who are thinking about giving up: There is light at the end of the tunnel.
Hhe article's content rich variety which make us move for our mood after reading this article. surprise, here you will find what you want! Recently, I found some wedsites which commodity is colorful of fashion. Such as mbt outlet store that worth you to see. Believe me these websites won’t let you down.