When you say you have to switch rx and tx... I think what you are talking about is that ALWAYS when connecting two serial devices, you must connect one RX to the other TX. When one talks (transmits on TX) the other listens (receives on RX). On a standard UNO board, Receive (RX) is 0 and Transmit (TX) is 1. You are defining them the other way around so I think you have some misunderstanding here.
You also say "serial.print. I run this in the main function, not looping". The code you posted does no such thing in the "main function" which is not only called loop, but truly is in a loop because the Arduino firmware restarts loop() every time it ends.
As blh64 already said, the Arduino hardware serial is on pins 0 and 1 (reversed from your usage) so by creating a software serial on the same pins you have radically complicated everything and have your Arduino fighting with itself.
Please be more explicit in what your problem is and provide the true code that you are using. As all old programmers like me always say: If it isn't reproducible, it is not solvable.