LEARN TO SWIM:
“The act of (consciously or unconsciously) combining all your gained knowledge, perspective and acceptance of certain truths, that cause the Eureka moment where everything comes together and the moment of true clarity shines so undeniably.”
Never in my life did I ever think 3 words would mean so much to the brevity of one’s existence. No one and nothing can prepare you for Life. You can only be surrounded with others opinions and expectations, however helpful or destructive they are they hold no strength to that compared of learning how to swim. Obviously I am not talking about jumping in the water….. (Although that is about the easiest way to try to relate the concept of a eureka moment.) This has been a metaphor for me that can be applied to every bit of being a human on this planet as it can to being a Chef or any other profession in these days and ages. In culinary school, they tried to teach you how to prepare something. The instructors diligently taught you the procedures the How’s the When’s and the What not’s to do to make anything your heart desired. They even went so far as to imitate a line on a Friday night so you could understand the inner and outer workings of this massive machine with unlimited variables. But nothing and I mean nothing; can take the place of the hard knocks, thrown to the wolves’ kind of pressure that happens in a restaurant on a Friday night. All the moving parts coming together and the swimming you produce by learning how and when you fit into that chaos of a machine, and the clarity, that comes when something or someone (not unlimited to yourself) forces you to Learn To Swim. If I had to compare it to anything close that most could wrap their brains around it would be equivalent to being dropped in the ocean or swimming pool and told to swim when you know nothing of the how. As ironic as that sounds that about sums it up. You will never figure it out until you or someone or something forces you to do it. These words have been an application to life for me in so many ways, sometimes acted upon in good faith to attain certain results… and sometimes forced by unforeseen and unwanted circumstances or foolish actions where all seemed dark and at an end. No matter what the occasion or incident was, or currently is, learning to swim is the only solution. One must always find the center in you and from there trust… Trust that you can do this, whatever that do this is! In the kitchen standing next to your comrades and teammates you are not alone, and if you are on a good team…they won’t let you fall. But they aren’t going to paddle for you. You can find those around you that can help you understand, search for the things that make you better. But you will always be stuck on that shore in whatever you do if you don’t take that plunge. You have to learn to swim on your own…because no one can swim for you. Sometimes you will feel the pieces coming together and most of the time you won’t, at least not until you look back, and realize you’re doing it or you did it…..(kind of like when your parents let go of the bike and you looked back to see if they were still holding on…..yea like that!) But if you can seek to find an answer, if you can find that drive that is screaming inside you to attain that vision of perfection that brought you here in the first place. You will surely succeed. Look even if it’s not a kitchen or even in the Hospitality field for that matter, you have to believe in yourself, you have to have that desire to create--- You have it…… it is there inside of you, it is what you came here to do. Don’t ever forget that when you get thrown into that ocean. For me it started in the culinary world, I could apply it to every new position or dish or dinner rush that was I a part of Little did I know as I look back on my 23 year career and as I start to share my stories and experiences with the world that I have applied it to so much of my existence in this ever short cycle of time. I hope that when facing those trials and tribulations of expansion of you can dig deep and know that everything you need is inside of you and that the reward is so much larger than the trials themselves. For you it may be the same or something else, but everybody has it inside them and everybody has had the moment at some point. Share it…Live it…Learn from it, make it a piece that makes you better!
“The act of (consciously or unconsciously) combining all your gained knowledge, perspective and acceptance of certain truths, that cause the Eureka moment where everything comes together and the moment of true clarity shines so undeniably.”
Never in my life did I ever think 3 words would mean so much to the brevity of one’s existence. No one and nothing can prepare you for Life. You can only be surrounded with others opinions and expectations, however helpful or destructive they are they hold no strength to that compared of learning how to swim. Obviously I am not talking about jumping in the water….. (Although that is about the easiest way to try to relate the concept of a eureka moment.) This has been a metaphor for me that can be applied to every bit of being a human on this planet as it can to being a Chef or any other profession in these days and ages. In culinary school, they tried to teach you how to prepare something. The instructors diligently taught you the procedures the How’s the When’s and the What not’s to do to make anything your heart desired. They even went so far as to imitate a line on a Friday night so you could understand the inner and outer workings of this massive machine with unlimited variables. But nothing and I mean nothing; can take the place of the hard knocks, thrown to the wolves’ kind of pressure that happens in a restaurant on a Friday night. All the moving parts coming together and the swimming you produce by learning how and when you fit into that chaos of a machine, and the clarity, that comes when something or someone (not unlimited to yourself) forces you to Learn To Swim. If I had to compare it to anything close that most could wrap their brains around it would be equivalent to being dropped in the ocean or swimming pool and told to swim when you know nothing of the how. As ironic as that sounds that about sums it up. You will never figure it out until you or someone or something forces you to do it. These words have been an application to life for me in so many ways, sometimes acted upon in good faith to attain certain results… and sometimes forced by unforeseen and unwanted circumstances or foolish actions where all seemed dark and at an end. No matter what the occasion or incident was, or currently is, learning to swim is the only solution. One must always find the center in you and from there trust… Trust that you can do this, whatever that do this is! In the kitchen standing next to your comrades and teammates you are not alone, and if you are on a good team…they won’t let you fall. But they aren’t going to paddle for you. You can find those around you that can help you understand, search for the things that make you better. But you will always be stuck on that shore in whatever you do if you don’t take that plunge. You have to learn to swim on your own…because no one can swim for you. Sometimes you will feel the pieces coming together and most of the time you won’t, at least not until you look back, and realize you’re doing it or you did it…..(kind of like when your parents let go of the bike and you looked back to see if they were still holding on…..yea like that!) But if you can seek to find an answer, if you can find that drive that is screaming inside you to attain that vision of perfection that brought you here in the first place. You will surely succeed. Look even if it’s not a kitchen or even in the Hospitality field for that matter, you have to believe in yourself, you have to have that desire to create--- You have it…… it is there inside of you, it is what you came here to do. Don’t ever forget that when you get thrown into that ocean. For me it started in the culinary world, I could apply it to every new position or dish or dinner rush that was I a part of Little did I know as I look back on my 23 year career and as I start to share my stories and experiences with the world that I have applied it to so much of my existence in this ever short cycle of time. I hope that when facing those trials and tribulations of expansion of you can dig deep and know that everything you need is inside of you and that the reward is so much larger than the trials themselves. For you it may be the same or something else, but everybody has it inside them and everybody has had the moment at some point. Share it…Live it…Learn from it, make it a piece that makes you better!