Swimming against the current is what allows the great transformations in the historical cycles of societies. Scientists, artists, philosophers, among others, who manage to think outside the box to deliver their creative effort for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.
The best metaphor to talk about swimming against the current, we can see it in the salmon and its reproductive process. After swimming days against the current, its reproductive process (spawning) takes place. Something similar happens with the human creative process, it is fought against the status quo, against the paradigms, against the dogmas; until finally, new inventions emerge, new ways of understanding and seeing life.