As a child, I started swimming by luck. However, as I pursued the sport, I fell in love with swimming. I looked forward to practice every day. When I was young, I swam because my team was my second family. I spent hours with them every week. I loved my team. As I grew up, I lost sight of why I swam, which is why I plateaued for two long years. I had lost something that I had before. I could not tell what it was, but I was not the swimmer I once was. I was frustrated to a point where I wanted to give up.
That is when I met a coach named Hannah. She is the reason I am still swimming today. She asked me a simple question: "Axel, why do you swim." I laughed. I was so sure that I knew the answer to such a simple question. When I started thinking about it, I was surprised by the fact that I did not know the answer to the question. I told myself that it was to win, but I knew it wasn't true. I still think about the question, and yet, I haven't found an answer that I am satisfied with. The closest thing to an answer was my team. I remembered when I thrived as a kid, and I asked myself why. It wasn't to win or to be the best: it was to be part of a family. Families push each other upward; they make themselves better. As a swimmer, 99% of the time, you swim better in relays than in events you swim alone. When you are in a relay, you don't just swim for yourself; you swim for your teammates, and that is why you swim faster.
Overall, all I am trying to say is that you can never lose sight of why you swim. Every day when you think that you have reached your limit, remember why and push yourself farther than what you believed to be your limits.