Trust Your Pace

Today, the swimmer in the next lane was moving much faster than I was. Every time we pushed off the wall together, I found myself looking at her feet within a few yards. For a moment, I felt competitive, and a little defeated.

It made me think about how often we compare our progress to someone else’s journey. Maybe you have watched a colleague get selected for a visible project, receive the promotion you hoped for, or get recognition leaving you feeling overlooked.

The gift of swimming is that it gives me space to think—and this time, it reminded me that someone else’s pace does not diminish my own progress. I realized that my goal was to swim laps to achieve a certain distance, while she was working with the Master’s program coach on her speed. We were swimming toward different goals.

The lesson is simple: stay in your lane, trust your pace, and keep showing up. Progress doesn't require you to be ahead of everyone else; it requires you to keep moving forward with purpose toward your goals.