Lessons from the Sea
One of my great privileges is living in Los Angeles, close to the Pacific Ocean. I often swim in the ocean, and thanks to the amazing California weather, I get to do this year-round. The physicality of the practice is one thing, but reflecting on my life, I think I am infinitely more grateful for the lessons it teaches me about perseverance and mental strength.
I have swum competitively throughout my life, but turned to the ocean full-time when the lockdown happened and pools were shut down. At first, the experience was awful - my heart rate spiked from the cold-response and the fear of seeing the sandy bottom drop-off into a gaping abyss.
Frankly, I don’t think I ever openly expressed that my heart was about to explode from fear, but they probably noticed that I swam pretty much on top of them the entire time (I still do this at times).
Almost two years later, the fear has not completely gone away, but I’ve learned to live with it. I wish I could say there was a “moment” when the fear dissipated, but the answer is a lot less sexy - it simply reduced over time, with a lot of consistent, dedicated effort.
