“Smile. You’ll Swim Faster.”

Photo Courtesy: Griffin Scott

By Cathleen Pruden, Swimming World College Intern

Swimming is fun. On some level, we all believe this. If we didn’t, we would not wake up before the sun and launch our bodies into cold water, following a black line up and down a pool, oxygen deprived, with burning muscles.

There is something we all enjoy: the water, workout endorphins pumping, teammates laughing, best times, racing, something that keeps us coming back every day.

I always knew this to be true, and I genuinely enjoyed going to practice. I had fun taking on a challenge. I thrived off of those workout endorphins. I loved my teammates. But, meets were still stressful. Sometimes not even enjoyable.

I was afraid of failure. I was afraid of letting down my teammates and myself. One bad swim and my confidence plummeted.

At the first meet of my collegiate sophomore season I raced in the 1,000 and I was unhappy with it. Excessively frustrated and disappointed, I then swam a poor 500. My coach told me to “put the swim away,” but I couldn’t turn my attitude around despite my captains’ valiant efforts.

I quickly found myself dreading, and fearful of my favorite event, the 400 IM. I was irrationally afraid of disappointing people– people who would still love me no matter how I swam. I spent the entire race focusing on every negative and was so busy beating myself up that I couldn’t recognize the race for what it was, a decent swim at an early season dual meet.

Before I even had a chance to dwell on the swims, my captains intervened on the bus ride back to school. They said, “You weren’t having any fun and that’s what’s most important.” Having a good time was our number one team goal, yet I had allowed myself to be miserable all night.

“You didn’t even smile!” they added.

That one comment helped change my attitude towards swimming and improved my ability to race. It reminded me of something a coach once said: “Smile. You’ll swim faster.” I knew my captains and my coach were onto something so when reflecting in my swim journal I wrote, “New rule: I smile before every swim.”

Swimming is fun. Racing is supposed to be fun. Even if I wasn’t having a blast, I was going to pretend. This is still a team sport, and I needed to try my best to present the positive attitude my teammates expected.

At first, it was awkward.

Sometimes the smile was a little bit forced, because sometimes swimming the 1,000 doesn’t seem like something to look forward to. But, I kept smiling. It became a part of my pre-race routine. Eventually, it became natural.

An article from Forbes reports, “Decades of research bear out the basic truth: your mood is elevated and your stress is reduced if you plaster a big smile on your face, even for a short period of time,” and Psychology Today explains why it works.

“Each time you smile you throw a little feel-good party in your brain… The act of smiling activates neural messaging that benefits your health and happiness… The feel good neurotransmitters dopamine, endorphins and serotonin are all released when a smile flashes across your face as well.”

Now, when I stand in the ready room before the mile, I get weird looks from the girls around me. Why? Because I am absolutely beaming.

I am so excited to climb on the block and race for 17 painful minutes, to travel up and down the pool thirty three times without enough oxygen and with all of my limbs burning. I know that I am going to have fun. I am being given an opportunity to race, to showcase weeks of hard training, and to do something worth smiling about.

So, when you find yourself dreading a rep, struggling through a practice, or afraid of a race, try something new: smile.

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