Today has really made me reflect on the choices I make and are making on a daily, minute or second basis. I recently joined a sea swimming group the Littlehampton Bluetits, based in West Sussex. Over the last few days the weight of ‘Covid stress’ has been heavy, the children have been busy and I seem to have had a lot to do – perhaps a sense of overwhelm. This morning my sea swimming group had planned a 6.30am sunrise dip. As my alarms snoozed for the second time my immediate thought was to stay in my warm cosy bed, perhaps dose for a little longer or spend time mindlessly scrolling though Facebook and other social media channels until my children woke around 7.30am. But would any of that help? Perhaps the warm cosy bed, perhaps a little more snoozing. The social media would probably only feed any anxiety or overwhelm I was feeling. So I made a choice. I quickly got myself out of bed into my swimming costume, beach shoes and dry robe and headed off in my car into a very dark and sleepy village on the way to the beach.
The thoughts as I left were ‘it’s dark’, ‘why am I doing this?’, it will be cold’, ‘I should have stayed in bed!’
As I reach the seafront the first inklings of daylight were appearing….I was greeted by the Bluetits group, some familiar smiley faces and some new ones. In we went – whooping due to the cooler water. As we swam out the sun started to appear – a burning orange on the horizon to the East – I knew them this was the right choice………
