Just remember to breathe

I love people that embrace the notion of self improvement and don't just take life as it is dealt. For instance, my friend Faye is challenging her fear of heights, which after a year is now just a manageable irritant, and my friend Janice is learning to swim. I love her description:

"The class starts, and the 'warm-up' assignment is to swim eight lengths, "freestyle". Yikes! Well, you can't get much more freestyle than my style, aka survival swimming. Others in the class are happy and calmly doing lengths, Jos and I are thrashing about in the slow lane, with me gasping for breath and making horrible sinking noises and gulping down lots of water. The good news - it can only get better. And it did, even in the short hour that we had in the pool. I left feeling refreshed and excited to try again. As I keep telling people (and myself) "If I can just remember to breathe, I'll be OK." Kind of crucial, I know, but good advice for life in general, really."

Yes, we will all be okay, we just need to remember to breathe.