working hard

I love watching swans. When they are swimming, they epitomise elegance, serenity and poise. When they are on land, however, not in their natural environment, they look awkward, clumsy and vulnerable.
I guess that's like all of us who are caught in situations where we are uneasy. It's hard to look poised when we are anxious. It's hard to retain composure when we are vulnerable. Yet in life, so often we face new and challenging situations where we don't look elegant. Nonetheless, just as the swan is still a swan while on land, when we face hard times, we are still ourselves ... people who are able to draw on our past experiences to face new realities with resilience. Even when the swan looks serene, the legs are working hard below the surface, to maintain that poise. Even serenity takes hard work!