The time I almost drowned

Six years ago I took a trip with three of my friends to Cancun, if you are not familiar with this city, it is a popular Americanised city in Mexico. It was during spring break. It was hot, and ripe for a party atmosphere.

My mom taught me how to swim. She used to be a competitive swimmer and now proudly owns her own swimming club. I am blessed to have an entrepreneurial role model in my life, but this isn't what this post is about.

We arrived at out hotel, checked in, and got to our rooms. Of course on the flight over we were competing on who can drink the most. I came close to first place, not my proudest accomplishment.

It was a fun trip to say the least. Soon after we checked in we decided to walk down to the beach. By this point I think you know where I am going with this post.

So there we were the four of us, standing on the beach, over looking at the waves crashing into the sand. I haven't swum in the ocean which formed these massive waves since I left Israel at the age of 10.

I bravely decided to go into the water.

I then began swimming out further and further until I reached a point were I felt exhausted. Unfortunately for me this was turning out to be a disaster. Definitely the wrong time to be getting tired, and the drinks on the flight did not help me at this point.

I would be lying if I told you that I encountered a shark or that I had to be rescued from the water because I almost drowned, although it would make for a cool story, I do my best to keep my stories biographical.

Struggling to make it back to shore, I panicked. The more I fought to swim against what seemed like a giant wall of water, the further it sucked me out. I thought at this point I would need some help. Not wanting to let anyone down, my friends and myself. I then stopped.

I stopped fighting.

It felt like a miracle, I came closer and closer to shore the less effort I made to climb over the wall of water.

By the time I reached shore I was no were near where I started the journey. I looked over and seen my friends standing staring frantically out into the ocean. I thought to myself what is going on. Then I heard my best friend yelling out "My friend is in the water he needs help".

I seen all three of my friends standing on the beach and I thought to myself, is he talking about me. So I watched for a few minutes absorbing this dignified array. An attempt made to save me from what seemed to be a horror scene.

I felt a sense of caring, belonging. I felt proud to have someone so genuine and amiable.

I crept up behind my friends and asked if they were looking for me. The look of worry was diminishing and I could tell they truly felt that they might never see me again.

True friends.

There are two lessons in this post.

One, know who your true friends are, not by pulling some sort of stunt to see if they care about you, but by observing their actions and reactions every time you are with them.

Two, stop fighting a losing battle. Know when to quit. Spend your energy on something that will bring you results and growth instead of working on something that will waste your most precious resource, Time.

Look at your business or project right now and ask yourself is there a purpose behind what you are doing? Is it meaningful to you? and will it improve your life and the lives of other's?

Why we work by Barry Schwartz is a great read to distinguish between trivial and meaningful work.

Thank you for reading my story, I hope it brought value to you. To be continued....

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