Heroes Not Zombies

Swan watching is a delight, though probably we are most familiar with seeing them glide, seemingly effortlessly over the surface of the water.

On this particular day there were a lot of swans and many of them were taking off, flying or landing. In flight swans look as elegant as they do “swanning around” on the water, but take off and landing is something else. Both seem to involve a lot of effort, a lot of splashing and a lot of noise.

This photo of one swan taking off, however, captures two important aspects of swan flight.

The first is how streamlined they appear as they leave the surface of the water. Look at it with its neck fully stretched out, it’s whole body already parallel to the loch.

The second, maybe not so obvious unless you’re actually there, is how the swan has to commit to flight in order to take off.

It’s this second point which impresses me so much. It really doesn’t look easy to transition from the one state to the next, from swimming around to flying through the air.

It reminds me of seeing bird chicks in a nest growing their first flight feathers and preparing themselves for their first ever flight. They have to commit to it, and just do it. There is no third way.

Commitment – we need this if we are to achieve anything in life. With the Will, determination and commitment, we can achieve what we set out to achieve. Without it, “the game’s a bogey” as we say in Scotland. Or, in other words, we’ll fail.

What do you want to achieve today? Whatever it is, you’re going to have to commit to it.