Are you staying in the shallow end?

She Wouldn't Leave the Shallow End

On Sunday afternoon, I was playing in the pool with Amelia, our 8-year-old. Her new thing is running and jumping into the pool while Mallory or I throw her a ball to catch in midair.

There’s not much she won’t do in the pool these days.

But it wasn’t always like this.

We thought we were being smart a few years ago, before we had a pool, and enrolled Amelia in swim lessons. For whatever reason, she was terrified of the instructor, and that experience seemed to make her afraid of the water.

So, at the start of this summer, Amelia would only stay in the shallow end, near the wall and the stairs where you enter the pool.

Meanwhile, we were out in the middle of the pool having a good time swimming around, diving underwater and carrying on. I wanted her so badly to give it a try because when I was her age, I LOVED swimming.

But for the longest time, she didn't have enough faith to trust Mallory and me.

Somehow, it seemed, she thought we were telling her to do something that might harm her.

Then Something Changed

A few months ago, her cousin came to town. He immediately jumped into the pool. After Amelia watched him do it and saw that nothing bad happened, she decided maybe it wasn't so scary after all.

Then, through a lot of cajoling over many weeks, we convinced her to swim to the bottom of the deep end to retrieve a toy from the pool floor.

Fast-forward to Sunday, and she's running full speed toward the pool, launching herself into the air and trying to catch a ball before she hits the water.

While I was throwing the ball to her, I had an epiphany:

How analogous is this to our own lack of faith?

Staying Where We Can Touch the Bottom

How often do we feel called to act on something but refuse to move because we're convinced something terrible might happen?

We can limit what God may have for us because we're afraid of the unknown.

Instead of walking in faith, we stay in the shallow end where we know we can stand up if we need to. We convince ourselves that if we venture into deeper water, we're suddenly going to drown.

So, we give ourselves an easy out instead of jumping in and experiencing what might be waiting for us.

I know I do this.

I can talk myself out of things I know I should do because I analyze them to death.

What if this happens?

What if that happens?

What if X goes wrong?

And on and on.

Faith Doesn't Suddenly Appear at Retirement

One thing I've learned over the last 15 years of working with folks who are close to retirement or already retired is that we don't reach some magic age where we suddenly begin living a life of faith.

It's something we practice. And it requires daily work.

Last week, the financial news was pretty dire. Between concerns over the national debt, interest rates and everything else happening in the world, by Friday I was feeling pretty fretful.

Mallory recently said in passing that she thought I was a positive person.

I thought, “What in the world are you talking about? If only you heard my inner dialogue.”

When I feel myself becoming overwhelmed by negative news, I've found it helpful to intentionally put something encouraging into my mind instead.

Sometimes that means investing in a good book that's meant to lift my spirits and change my perspective.

Because if we're not careful, it's awfully easy to let everything we hear convince us to stay in the shallow end.

Sometimes We Need an Outside Perspective

At the end of the day, sometimes we need an outside perspective to help calm our minds and separate what's possible from what's probable.

That's true in life, and I've found it's certainly true when it comes to retirement.

There will always be another scary headline, another unanswered question and another reason to wait.

That doesn't mean we should blindly jump into every decision. But it also doesn't mean fear should make the decision for us.

If we can be that calming outside perspective when it comes to your retirement planning by helping you understand what you can control, what you can't, and what your next step might look like, please reach out. We'd be glad to help.

Until next week,

David C. Treece,

Financial Planner

864.668.2377