[stylist] blog

[Aine Kelly-Costello]

While I'm at it, in case anyone's interested I thought I would 
also send along a sample blog I wrote with the aim of being 
selected to be able to blog as a first year university student 
this year (I'm very happy to be able to say I was selected).  It 
deals with a crucial decision I had to make last year and is 
below and attached ...



TO SWIM, OR NOT TO SWIM ...
That is the Question


It was June 2012, when it really hit me that DECISION Time was 
approaching ...  And fast.  Toooo fast.  So what, you might ask, 
did I have to decide?
First, I'll explain the situation.  In April, I'd trialed for the 
Paralympic games in my sport of swimming, and theoretically, I'd 
qualified.  However, I was one of the slower swimmers from New 
Zealand, and, essentially, there was no guarantee I'd actually be 
going to London.  And in June, after being asked whether I knew 
if I was going to London yet by at least one person every day for 
the last two weeks straight, the wait was really beginning to get 
to me.  What made things worse was the knowledge that if I didn't 
get to go to London, I'd still have to go to the Paralympics Swim 
Camp with everyone else who WAS going to the games-talk about 
putting salt in an open wound..

It was on one of these days of brooding I realized that, 
regardless of whether I went to London or not, the major decision 
as to whether I'd keep swimming competitively after 2012 could 
only be put off for so long.  By this point, I'd already sussed 
out a few things ...

If I didn't keep swimming, then:
a) I would study Classical Flute Performance (in a Bachelor of 
Music) with a BA conjoint at Auckland Uni
b) I would like to stay in a hall of residence (to get the full 
Uni life experience and all that)
c) I'd need to find another way to get fit (either a club at Uni 
or the Rec Centre, which looks doable, at any rate)

On the other hand, if I did keep swimming:
a) I'd probably do a part-time BA
b) I would definitely be staying at home (because I swim with 
North Shore swimming and would definitely not be prepared to 
change coaches)
c) I'd be spending a good 14, 15 hours at the pool each week, 
another 3 or so doing land training, and another 6 odd preparing 
and commuting-in short, devoting about 24 hours per week to 
swimming


As I'd thought about the choice more and more (OK, what I was 
actually doing was putting off deciding for as long as possible), 
I'd come to realize that there were three major factors in the 
decision-making.  One of them was use of energy.  I had to face 
the facts: swimming was energy zapping.  No.  Extreeeemely energy 
zapping.  Let's just say me and 4:30 starts have never got on 
well and leave it there.  But on the other side of the coin, that 
energy was going towards getting faster and fitter.  If I kept 
swimming after London, medals at the Río games were a very real 
possibility (notice the plural?).  I'd also undoubtedly grow a 
lot as a sportsperson and get to do much, much more travelling 
for competitions (which is pretty cool, really).

Factor number two was independence.  If I persevered with the 
sport, I wasn't going to get a lot of that, as I'd still be 
living at home and would basically have my days all planned out, 
between training and part-time study.  Living in the halls at UoA 
would give me a chance to work on my orientation skills (you 
might've been wondering what my "disability" is by now-I'm 
totally blind), it'd also let me make new friends, but most of 
all it'd be a chance to gain some long-awaited freedom! Although 
if I did want to ever really show what I was made of at a 
Paralympics, then now, undoubtedly, would be the time to do so.  
So said freedom, could, theoretically, wait four more years (my 
family have been very supportive).

The final factor was studying Music.  Or rather, WHEN, exactly, 
to start studying music at university.  For about as long as I 
can remember, I have had my heart set on going to a university 
and doing a performance degree (it took me a little longer to 
decide on an instrument, but performance, I knew, was what I 
really wanted to do).  If I kept swimming, I was very limited in 
that respect.  Even joining orchestras and choirs was tricky 
because it had to fit around training.  Studying a full-time BMus 
was out of the question.  The other problem was that if I wanted 
to forge a great career in music, leaving off studying it for 
four years would mean I would fall a good way behind my peers 
(many of whom I know well and would love to study alongside) and 
catching up would probably be almost impossible.

Once I eventually got my thoughts organized as such, it wasn't 
too hard to see which option was winning.  It finally dawned on 
me that what was missing on the swimming side of the equation was 
real passion.  Sure, training was quite often fun, and sure, 
pushing yourself to new heights and winning medals and travelling 
was great, but I just didn't have the same motivation for that as 
I do for flute-playing.  The non-swimming route certainly 
presents its fair share of challenges too.  The main ones, I 
think, will be needing to be my own advocate at University, and 
making sure I take advantage of as many opportunities to learn as 
possible.  Then there are the little ones, like not accidentally 
stealing someone's laundry because they have the same type of 
socks as you, and noticing the dog poo on your shoe before 
walking it all over the building.  But those challenges excite 
me.  Even the stupid little ones in their own way ...  They're 
all part of the university adventure!

So here I sit writing this blog, accepted into a BMus/BA conjoint 
at UoA and already enrolled for 2013 (I figure I may as well 
start off organized!).  But I had the best of both worlds really, 
because I did, thankfully, end up getting selected for the London 
Paralympics, and came back with many way cool memories and 
experiences (the describing of which would be a whole other blog 
or three ...')
Till next time!
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