The Plunge

I LOVE to swim. I love floating on my back looking up at the blue sky. I love the way my arms and legs feel as they propel me through the water. Once I’m in, I’m all in. It’s getting in that has always been the problem for me… fully submerging myself in water that I’m not yet used to.

My husband just runs and dives and then waits a good 20 minutes while I inch my way in, waiting until each section gets used to the water before I expose the next. It’s excruciating and even though I know it’s ridiculous and ultimately the biggest waste of time, I continue to enter the water in this way, most of the time.

However, there have been times in my life when I’ve deliberately taken the plunge. One of those times was with my father in law. He invited my sisters-in-law and me on a Father Daughter ski trip to Lake Tahoe in March. On our last day there, I asked if anyone would do a polar bear swim with me. It took some convincing but at last I talked him into it.

We arrived at the beach where people were bundled up taking strolls in the fresh mountain air. We changed into our suits and walked to the water’s edge with our towels wrapped around us. When the time was right we shed the towels and ran as fast as we could into the icy cold water which sprayed in all directions around us as we dove under its surface.

It’s times like these, when all of your senses simultaneously wake up and your heart rapidly beats in your chest, that you feel truly alive. And it feels absolutely amazing. Sometimes when you face an opportunity that is way out of your comfort zone, your brain tries to make you get used to it first. Sometimes you spend so much time trying to get used to it that you run out of time altogether. You watch as others (who dive right in) enjoy themselves, getting used to it as they go. That’s always a choice. Making that choice more often wakes you up to experiences you wouldn’t have had otherwise. It feels absolutely amazing.

By the way, my father-in-law is the BEST!