SWAMP METAPHOR

 Suppose you are beginning a journey to a beautiful mountain you can clearly see in the distance.  No sooner do you start the hike than you walk right into a swamp that extends as far as you can see in all directions.  You say to yourself, “Gee, I didn’t realize that I was going to have to go through a swamp.  It’s smelly, and the mud is all mushy in my shoes.  It’s hard to lift my feet out of the muck and put them forward.  I’m wet and tired.  Why didn’t anybody tell me about this swamp?” When that happens you have a choice: abandon the journey or enter the swamp.  We go into the swamp, not because we want to get muddy, but because it stands between us and where we are going. 

Steven Hayes, Ph.D. states that this metaphor highlights the fact that when we are traveling in a particular direction, the journey can take us across difficult ground.  It also shows that we don’t walk into pain because we like pain.  We walk through pain in the service of taking a valued direction. This is one of three metaphors related to goal setting. 

Hopefully, you reflect on it and on your direction and goals as they pertain to next year in wrestling, school, etc.