The Same Days, Repeated

A new year has begun.

But nothing has changed.

I am repeating today
what I did yesterday.

In an interview,
an athlete said,
“Don’t grow tired of repetition.”

The words stayed.

Repeating the same things each day
brings familiarity—
and, with it, weariness.

You try. You stumble.
You try again.
Learning works the same way.

There is nothing remarkable about it.

Today, I train.
I fail.
I adjust, once more.

Sometimes things fall apart.
Sometimes you begin again
from where they fell.

There are days when rowing
feels like scraping the bottom
of a dry riverbed.

Even then, I don’t stop.

Even when nothing seems to change,
I row again,
in the same direction as yesterday.

In hours no one sees,
I continue doing the same things
for myself.

Even when results don’t appear,
those hours accumulate,
quietly making a person stronger.