Swimming Year Round

Wim Hof, who is known for breaking many records and saying, “You are stronger than you think you are,” inspired me to spend more time in the lake that I live on and unfortunately had come to take for granted. Last fall my boys asked me to watch one of their favorite YouTube channels - Seek Discomfort about Wim Hof and how to become “Super Human.” I watched and was in awe of Wim Hof’s ability to control his body with his mind.

Through my meditation practice I certainly have learned about the power of our thoughts but I did not realize truly the power of the mind until watching this video. A couple weeks later it was my younger son’s birthday, October 8th. It was a beautiful day so I took him surfing. In the past I would never have considered jumping in. It was long past the swimming season. My guess is the lake was still about 70 degrees or just below but as I said it was October, most reasonable adults stop swimming on Labor Day in Wisconsin. The kids of course are bold and push the limits of the season. I decided to harness a little Wim Hof and I jumped in. It was cold but it felt great. I did not stay in very long but Austin’s birthday started my new cold water practice and I decided on that day that I would appreciate the beautiful lake I live on and give this cold water practice a try.

I swam year around this past year and it was awesome. I recruited my neighbor and a dear friend to join me and they made it extra fun. This is one of my favorite dips from last winter. Experiencing the lake like this in the winter was truly magical.

This summer I tried to maintain my cold water practice through ice baths at Be Fitness and at home and with cold showers. I am actually looking forward to the lake temperature dropping which seems weird even to myself. All I can say is that my cold water practice makes me feel good, it enhances my focus, my energy and I know it benefits my overall well being. It has been proven to boost the immune system which is of value now more than ever. The clearest example of the benefits of my cold water practice for me is after I do a cold water swim I am able to play the piano with more ease. Life just flows after a cold water swim. I am looking forward to another year of swimming year round and decided to help motivate me, hold me accountable and perhaps inspire others I would create a swimming log on my website to track my year round swimming. I am very grateful to live on a lake and have the opportunity right outside my door to connect with nature in this way. I offer this log with a humble grateful heart. I do not know how this will evolve but look forward to anyone who is interested to join me on my swimming adventure.

My goal is to add to the swimming log page daily unless I am traveling, sick or for some unforeseen reason can not swim. I will have to figure out some technical aspects of this as I want to include pictures and videos to capture the lakes changes but I don’t want the page to take forever to load. So I will work on problem solving that and in the meantime start sharing my daily swimming and share the the lakes changes through the seasons. I welcome questions and conversations in comments and through the contact me page.

So today I declare my goal to swim every day I can. And yes perhaps the timing of this goal is to help me manage my oldest child leaving for college.