Keep Your Goal In Sight

On a foggy morning in July 1952, Florence Chadwick waded into the chilly waters off of Catalina Island. Her goal? To swim the channel to the California coast. The water was numbing cold that day. The fog was so thick she could barely see the boats that were accompanying her. Several times, a rifle was fired to scare away sharks that approached her. She swam more than fifteen hours before she asked to be taken out of the water. Her trainer tried to encourage her to swim on since they were so close to land. Florence was not a stranger to long-distance swimming. She was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. But that day, she was discouraged. When she looked ahead all she saw was fog. Florence gave up only one-half mile from her goal! Later, she said, "I'm not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the land, I might have made it." It wasn't the cold water, exhaustion, or fear that caused Florence to fail that day. It was the fog. Two months later Florence Chadwick swam the Catalina channel and set a new speed record. Keep you goals in sight today and press on. You may be much closer to fulfilling them than you realize! Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend, Shanda