What I’ve learned from swimming in the ocean every day for 30 days (and 5 life lessons I learned through it)
After a summer season in 2022, where many things seemed to go wrong in our lives and it felt as if we had wasted half a year, my boyfriend and I decided to engage in a challenge: 30 days of swimming in the ocean every day.
We had just moved back to the West of Ireland and it seemed like a good time and place to get out once a day and go for a swim.
I had no idea how much of an impact the blue, salty, calm and stormy depths of the Atlantic Ocean would hold.
And how much I would learn.
Getting in is the hardest part
For the first few days I hovered along the shore, stood in knee-high water for a few minutes before getting in and tried to procrastinate the inevitable (immersing myself in cold water) for as long as possible.
Here’s the thing: As soon as I was in and got over the first 10 seconds of the initial shock, feelings of absolute exhilaration flooded in.
It is not the action, but the onset that is the hardest part of doing anything.
The more days past, the faster I got in, until I was at a stage where I marched right in without stopping and even jumped off the pier into the icy cold at the count of three.
Life lesson: If there is a task that needs completing, know that the hardest and most uncomfortable part is starting. See your goal, sit down and just start with the smallest possible thing. You will be amazed by how fast you will progress and begin to enjoy the journey.
Focusing on the feeling after is a game-changer
From the first swim I realised how great I felt once I was in the water; Any tension left my body, my mind was clear, my heart was pumping and I felt alive.
There were plenty days when I was tired from work or it was raining cats and dogs or it was a Sunday and I just wanted to chill.
When I was dreading taking that first step, I reminded myself of how great it would feel once I was in the water.
That different perspective changed everything and made getting in the water much easier.
Life lesson: When faced on your journey with an uncomfortable task, think about how you will feel once you’ve completed it. Relieved? Energised? Relaxed? Happy? One step further towards your goal?
Your body will adapt to the cold
Even whilst swimming in the summer, I will get out of the water a shivering mess. I cannot even stay at the beach and enjoy the sunshine, unless it is a sunny, wind-free and warm day, and I will stay cold for hours after.
That was one of the things I was dreading the most before starting the challenge.
Granted, the first five days of the challenge looked exactly like that. No hot water bottles, hot showers and blankets would warm me up for hours.
But then, imagine my surprise, I actually found myself adapt to the cold. The shivering stopped and soon I could stay in the water longer and warm up quicker once I was out.
Life lesson: You will be surprised by how adaptable our being is and sometimes the best thing we can do is trust in our bodies.
It is not about fat loss or how your body looks
One thing 98% of people would say when I would tell them about the swim challenge is: It is so good for fat-loss.
That might be true and is a good side effect, but should never be the focus of the conversation.
It often seems as if this world is more focused on how something will make you look as opposed to how it will make you feel. Exercise is often used for aesthetic purposes, rather than its fundamental health benefits.
Admittedly, even I fall into that trap all the time.
But with this challenge, I got to fully immerse myself in how it made me feel:
Alive. Free. Capable.
How did it make me look? Happy, I hope.
Thinner? More toned? Probably not.
I realised halfway through the 30 days that it was never about that to begin with.
Life lesson: Think about how something makes you feel, not how it will make you look.
You can leave all your troubles in the water
We all have our worries, may they be big or small. I am a worrier and an over-thinker, both leading to me stressing about life’s obstacles.
Worries have a way of encompassing us and making us feel as if there is no way out.
Ever get that horrible pain between the eyes from overthinking and overworrying?
When me and my boyfriend would drive down for our swim, we would talk about our day and often the things we were struggling with were discussed.
Once at the ocean, we would stop the car, walk down to the shore, dress down to our swim clothes and say, “Let’s leave everything in the ocean”.
And then jump in.
And you know what? It always worked.
Once we were immersed in the cold, once the breathing had calmed and the endorphins were released – the worry had diminished in size.
I know life is not as simple as that; Worries don’t just disappear when you jump into the ocean, especially if they are really big ones.
But there is something calming in, rather than allowing it to eat you up inside or getting stuck in your worries, to go out and release some of that worry.
Because if you can feel such calm and ecstasy in the midst of despair, you end up looking at the worry from a point of life itself. As a part of life.
And as something that can be overcome.
Life lesson: Don’t wallow in your worry. Release it. Be that through sharing it, stepping away from it, momentarily escaping it through exercise or a swim. And know that whilst worry exists, happiness and goodness can exist at the same time.