In May this year (2021) Masters Swimming Australia conducted a national Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health however is not an issue just for a month – awareness and mutual support needs a 24/7 focus.
We are all leading our lives in a world of great uncertainty. Just as our individual lives were starting to get back to some stability and certainty in Australia, we now see the Australian State of Victoria in a 14 – day shutdown which commenced at 11:59pm Thursday 27 May 2021 and may even need to be extended further.
These uncertainties and lockdowns can easily crush personal ambitions and goals, but only if we let them. Staying positive is always the best way to face each and every day.
It is easy to understand, based on our shared experiences over the last fifteen months or so, how quickly our lives can be adversely impacted and how dramatically and rapidly our swimming and training routines can change or even be completely denied to us.
The positive is that vaccination numbers around the world are steadily rising and without doubt, notwithstanding vaccine hesitancy, will dramatically improve by the end of 2021. It is also not unrealistic to believe that by late 2021 or early 2022 we will have access to a range of new and additional medical enhancements including new antiviral drugs and rapid response medicines, some of which are already in the human trial stages.
Even now (3 June) there is discussion that fully vaccinated Australians may be provided some relief, all be it minor and subject to health advice, from the quarantine rules currently in place. Trials of new control measures for travelling into and out of Australia may even commence this August, if not earlier.
Our new “normal” lives now need to adapt to living with Covid-19. There are things that we can all do! We need to heed and adopt safety advice from our public health authorities, get vaccinated as quickly as we can, and we need to stay positive.
Staying positive means preparing for the future, maintaining, or adapting our goals and ambitions, or even establishing new ones, and putting plans in place to make those goals achievable.
The next FINA world championships are scheduled for June 2022. The currently proposed dates are May 31 (Tue) – June 9 (Thu).
It is no use waiting for certainty and final confirmations of dates. By the time certainty materialises it will be far too late to start planning and preparing.
If competing at those championships was on your radar, then NOW is the time to start planning. Plans can always be adapted but first up there is a need to design a plan. Get started and if you need some assistance in that planning then you can easily contact mywaterworld.life
While the program for the 2022 FINA Masters has not yet been announced, the dates for the championships have (see above). Next week mywaterworld.life will have a look at a possible program for the championships and share some tips with you on how to set up your plan.
In the meantime, stay healthy and positive and think about some key dates for your plan.
mywaterworld.life 