As a young adult I remember once reading, "The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure!" and it stuck in my head. It's so true! In my younger days, often times I’d find myself paralyzed in trying something with the total fear of failing and hearing the word, “No!” or “You’re not good enough!” Wanting as a parent now to break that thought cycle, I found an opportunity right in front of my face during Baylee’s first swim meet on May 30th. She was so excited for her first competition but eventually when it was time to stand on the lonely board facing the long lane ahead to swim the freestyle heat, she froze. Tears, shaking, and the thought of “I can’t” circled her sweet head. She too, was paralyzed and it broke my heart.After pulling Baylee aside, reassuring her that no matter what, we loved her, Jon and I prayed with Baylee, and quoted some of her verses we have around her room, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” (Philippians 4:13) and “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7). Minutes passed and then Baylee dug deep and found the courage in her that God created her with and did it…she swiftly dove in the water and swam her heart out! To me, she could have taken four hours to swim the 25 yards, and I would have seen it as a huge success since she triumphed over fear. But she did even better than that! She scored 36.64!
Now fast forwarding to the end of the season, it’s amazing to see the growth that took place this summer during swim team practices and meets! Baylee was able to put her faith into practice, has great confidence, and learned first hand the definition of perseverance. She swam in 7 meets, all stokes (butterfly, breast stroke, back stroke, and freestyle) improving in each category, leaps and bounds! In fact, from Baylee’s first time in freestyle of 36.64 to her last, 20.5...the progression is impressive! She advanced an entire 16 seconds!
This summer Baylee didn’t progress to the swim finals but she has it in sight for next season. We rewarded her and Maggie with an honorary family lunch celebration and ceremony of our own, presenting both athletes with a trophy to remember their first season of swim team. From here on out, Baylee has a visual (her trophy) to remind her that “Success does not come to you, you go to it!” And boy did she ever go to it!
(Checking out her competition) 
(Breast stroke...Baylee in the closest lane to the camera)
(Swim team friends from 2 teams...Maggie, Kaelan, Baylee, and Emma)
(Baylee and Coach Bryn...a great man of encouragement!)
(Maggie, Baylee, Kalena, Emma V, Matthew, and Landon...at various meets during the summer)
(Baylee wearing her courage shirt next to Matthew and Landon)
(Kaelan, Baylee, Maggie, and Landon)
(Baylee, Maggie, and Kaelan)
