I was brought up (like many other people in my generation) believing an old wives' tale. It was the fable that you could not go swimming for 30 minutes after eating or you would get cramps and drown. How many children sat by pools, rivers, lakes, and ponds watching the clock and waiting for that time to tick away? How many parents held firmly to that belief because their parents had held them to the same poor standard? It's staggering to think of the millions of hours of lost swim time due to this joy-robbing falsehood.
It makes me wonder how much time we've lost in our lives because we've believed other lies. How often do we hinder our own growth because we feel limited by a restriction someone else has placed on us? What tradition do we blindly accept just because it's been done that way for years? What assumptions are we making about other people that are holding us back from genuine relationships? What obstacles are we afraid to overcome because we have made them bigger than they really are? What lessons have we been taught by well-meaning, but poorly informed people?
Don't just assume that something is true because that's "the way it's always been" or "he/she said it was true." Choosing to base your life decisions on information without checking its veracity can cost you more than lost swim time in the long run.
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