A little story for you today.
Maybe you've heard of Florence Chadwick. She was the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways, setting speed records as she did. At only ten years old she became the youngest person to swim across the mouth of the San Diego Bay. Let's just say she knew a thing or two about open water swimming.
In 1950 and 1951 she successfully swam the Channel, and in 1952 she attempted the swim from the coast of California to Catalina Island flanked by small boats for her safety. After about fifteen hours in the water a thick fog rolled in. She started to question whether she could finish. The English Channel swim is roughly the same distance, so past experience had shown she should be able to make it. She swam for an hour more before asking to be pulled from the water. Once in the boat she learned she was less than a mile from her goal.
"The next day reporters clamored around her asking her why she had quit - had it been the cold water (48 degrees) or the distance. It proved to be neither. She responded, 'I was licked licked by the fog.' She then recalled a similar experience while swimming the English Channel. Evidently the fog was likewise engulfing. She was exhausted. As she was about to reach out for her father's hand in the nearby boat, he pointed to the shore. She raised her head out of the water just long enough to see the land ahead. With that new vision, she pressed on..." (The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister, pg. 16)
Two months later, she made another attempt for Catalina. This time she was successful although the conditions were the same. How? She said she kept a mental image of the shoreline in her mind while she swam.
It's easy and very common to get bogged down as we strive for an important goal. We're wet and cold, exhausted and just done. In those moments, let's remember Florence. Let's have the foresight to have someone in a boat to point out how close we are. Let's have the wisdom to keep a mental picture of our shoreline in our mind. Let's use that vision to draw out of us the drive we didn't know was still inside us.