Sink or Swim

I'd love to post an update with a recent finished piece, but unfortunately I made it into the studio today without camera or cell phone, so unless you want to see me hold something up into a grainy webcam, we'll skip it.

A friend of mine recently posted on Facebook that it's "sink or swim", I suppose meaning that this is your shot at whatever it is, don't blow it. I can't help but think about that, especially given that I'm now, for all intents and purposes, a "full time artist."

I'm familiar with the concept of sink or swim--generally, a parent tosses a young kid into a swimming pool, feeling that the kid will either learn to swim or drown. This is a horrifying concept in parenting. It may work for young sea creatures or those with the natural inclination to swim, but humans are fleshy, poorly designed, difficult to float, and lacking an oil-coat. We aren't really designed for swimming.

And sure, tossing your baby in a pool may result in the kid being able to keep head above water, but it's not "sink or swim", it's "sink or survive." You teach your child, through trauma, how to not drown, not how to succeed and swim.

Truly swimming takes years of practice, instruction, and discipline--just like learning any other skill. In order to truly thrive in the water, you must have someone guide you into it--because the slightest mistake could cost you your life. I'm not kidding. Anyone--any age, any size--can drown, sometimes in a frighteningly short amount of time. Without the systematic training to rise above fear (of water up the nose, or being restricted, or submerging your face) and to embrace technique (of floating, of treading water, of strokes) you will never be confident. You will never thrive.

So, after much reflection, I reject "sink or swim". Yes, you eventually have to get in the pool--but there's nothing wrong with getting into the pool with guidance, with support, with trust. There's nothing wrong with becoming confident before diving in the pool and really swimming. If you don't, you may wind up simply floundering in the shallow end for the rest of your life--and is that really better than sinking?