One Swing Philosophy — What Golf Taught Me About Life

I went to the driving range today, just as I had planned. And something amazing happened. My full iron swing was coming back. My wood and driver swings were also starting to feel natural again. As I hit ball after ball, I suddenly realized something I had forgotten for a while. Golf gives you back what you practice. I think I had become a little too proud of myself. Because of my finger pain, I hadn't been able to practice properly for quite some time. Yet I kept playing rounds, and somehow, I was still able to enjoy golf. I even had some surprisingly good shots and scores. So, for a while, I started to believe: Maybe I don't really need to practice that much to enjoy golf. Today, the driving range reminded me that I was wrong. Golf is not a sport you can truly enjoy without practice. Especially for an amateur golfer. When you stop practicing, your swing slowly disappears. And when that happens, a round of golf that should be fun can become surprisingly painful. Golf is such a ...

 Yesterday, I discovered something really funny at the swimming pool. As usual, I went swimming. In one corner of the pool, more than 50 senior swimmers were doing an aqua exercise class. The instructor was calling out the movements, and loud music filled the entire pool. I swam energetically for about 20 minutes. Then I moved to the walking lane and started walking slowly through the water. That was when I noticed something funny. In another corner of the pool, about five or six senior swimmers were secretly following the aqua exercise class from a distance. When the instructor lifted a leg, they lifted their legs. When the instructor raised her arms, they raised their arms. When she lowered her legs, they lowered theirs. They were copying every movement. But the funniest part was their faces. They clearly knew that they were not actually part of the class. And somehow, that made it even funnier. Their faces were full of smiles, as if they were silently saying to one another, “We'...