We are just treading water. We are not moving forward or back, just treading.
When these phrases are used to describe a business or life, the image is one of not doing very well. You are staying in one place, moving all your parts, but not going anywhere and using energy inefficiently. There is no sense of calm, ease, efficacy, or long-term safety. It is an image of being locked into a pattern of movement that is accomplishing a life-surviving task, or breathing in the case of actual treading water, but is not sustainable for very long.
For a business, it may be just holding the line between going in the red or staying in the black. In life it may mean everyone got out the door and back home that night, only to grind away the next day in the same furious fashion.
To the non-swimmer, being able to tread water is often thought to be the golden crown goal. There is an idea that if I could tread water then I would be safe, at ease, relaxed, know what I am doing and again be safe. Just as the metaphor of treading in life or business is not the golden crown, the same is true for swimming.
That raises the question that if treading is not the goal, then what is?
There is nothing wrong with treading per se, but if the action is the goal then it will not feel right. In life, it is a good thing to be able to get everyone out the door each morning and safely home each night. Treading is frantically going through the motions, but missing the feeling of a great life. When you focus simply on the tasks of getting out the door, you miss the point.
The point is to start a fresh new day. To savor the first sip of coffee, drink in the beautiful faces of the people you love the most who live with you or to enjoy the cool fresh morning. You don’t have to completely shift your life to become a Zen master, but keeping what is important in mind and stopping (even for a few moments) to collect yourself and be in the present, changes the view from “doing” life to “living” life.
In business, going between being in the red versus the black you may feel like you are always chasing the sale. If we keep chasing the sale and never take time to understand the underlining systems at play the frantic on the edge treading could continue until we slip under.
In the water, the goal must come before the action. The goal is to be at ease, safe, efficient and calm. So, therefore, this must come first and treading can be a way these goals are manifested. This frees the physical activity of treading from being the cause of safety. So when you do not want to tread anymore you do not have to give up safety. Safety comes before, during and after the activity of treading. Safety is a way of being and not limited to one particular action.
Keeping the goal in mind and bringing presence to your actions will move you beyond treading into a meaningful way of being. Love your life, understand the deeper systems and let the water hold you.
What areas of your day feel like you are “just treading”?
