Swimming Saves Lives
I like this James Clear quote:
Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.
The first week of August I was on vacation with my family in Vermont.
I didn’t write a blog post.
Today is Monday, August 17th.
It’s been 2 weeks since I’ve posted anything.
Since June, I’ve built a pretty good streak of weekly blog posts.
Missing twice is the start of a new habit.
That’s not a new habit I want to develop.
There’s a saying: Swimming Saves Lives.
It typically refers to the role that formal swim lessons have in reducing the risk of drowning for young children.
According to the American Red Cross, it can reduce drowning by up to 88%.
But that’s not what I’m here to write about.
I’m here to write about the role of swimming—the life saving role of swimming—within the Year of the Fire Horse.
The Year of the Fire Horse
I’m going to go obscure here—and I thank my dear friend Ling Ling Phung for always expanding my mind.
We were talking around the start of the year and at some point she goes, “Oh, Reed, you do know that it is the Year of the Fire Horse, right?!?”
I didn’t.
“Oh, you have to learn more about it—it can be a year of massive upheaval.”
Here’s a quick summary:
The Year of the Fire Horse represents a rare, high-intensity double-Yang-fire configuration.
It acts as a massive accelerator for radical change, forcing a reckoning with misaligned values…
…burning away stagnant or superficial structures…
…and demanding authenticity over external approval.
Swimming Saves Lives
The Year of the Fire Horse is rushing around wildly on this side of the computer screen.
At least for me, 2026 has been an absolutely wild ride.
And within that ride, there has been swimming—a stable force that has kept me grounded over the past 8 months.
The predictable 6am - 7am practices Monday through Friday.
The doughnuts, coffee, and chocolate milk every single Friday.
The jokes—often inappropriate—throughout practice.
The constant banter on our social media app: Band.
The John Folks.
The Sue Mohn.
The Dave Cameron.
The Donielle Palladino.
The Margaret Ludick.
The Luke Winskowski.
The Taran Panduranga.
The Kate Ford.
The Jenni Mueller.
The Kasey Bosch.
I could go on and on and on.
And swimming—sport—has always done that.
Routines.
Tradition.
Culture.
Hard work.
And, of course, the amazing people.
In my opinion, there is something magical that happens when two or more people do hard things together.
You’re part of something bigger than yourself.
A force that can keep you afloat and grounded even within the Year of the Fire Horse.
Go be part of something bigger than yourself.
I promise it will save your life.
Onward.
Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit. This is a distinguishing feature between winners and losers. Anyone can have a bad performance, a bad workout, or a bad day at work. But when successful people fail, they rebound quickly. The breaking of a habit doesn’t matter if the reclaiming of it is fast. I think this principle is so important that I’ll stick to it even if I can’t do a habit as well or as completely as I would like. Too often, we fall into an all-or-nothing cycle with our habits. The problem is not slipping up; the problem is thinking that if you can’t do something perfectly, then you shouldn’t do it at all.
―James Clear, Atomic Habits