A Lot Can Happen in Two Years

Last week, I found myself wearing a bathing suit and sitting in a monstrous snow pile in my front yard.  No, this was not a dare, and I did not receive a cash incentive to do so.  I was celebrating my two-year dip-a-versary, and due to the incredible weather we have had lately, sitting in the snow was the closest thing I could get to what I was actually celebrating - my love of cold water.

If we went back in time, to say two and a half years ago, the person you would have met would not have been about the cold at all.  She pursued hobbies that took her outside in the winter, but she compensated by bundling up, sometimes overdressing, and doing all she could to not feel the cold.  Like many others, she had an aversion to the discomfort that a chill brought about, and fought against this feeling with every warm clothing item she could.

Then came the a-ha moment of hearing more and more about the healing properties of cold water immersion, and the hope of perhaps offsetting some of the aches and pains she often felt as a side effect of active living.  It was going to be nothing more than that - a maybe once-a-week thing she would get through so she could continue to also get through so many other things in her life.

But the lake said, not so fast.  The lake held her and showed her that there was nothing to be afraid of.  She opened her eyes for the first time in a long time and really looked around at the beauty that nature had to offer.  And she fell in love.  She fell in love with the way her body seemed to come to life in the water, with how she felt as the chills moved through her afterwards, with how the sun on her face offset the chill in her body and brought her such joy and calm that she couldn't wait for the next time. 

Once a week never really happened.  After that first cold embrace, she was hooked, and she knew there was no point in fighting it. So she didn't.  She let her body lead the way, and it brought her back to the water's edge day in and day out.  On days when she couldn't be in the lake, she found other ways to embrace the cold, all the while looking forward to being back where she felt held and at peace. She began to notice that the cold didn't scare her like it once did, and she felt herself becoming more grounded and centred with each trip.  She often had chances to let her thoughts wander and was surprised at what they revealed to her, unlocking many years of sorrow, questions, and confusion, and replacing those feelings with strength, certainty, and understanding.  

She also found a loving community to become a part of, something she didn't realize she needed and now something she could not live without.  Two years have passed by, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.  There have been tears of laughter and tears of sorrow.  There have been meaningful conversations and even more meaningful moments of silence.  And I could not be more grateful or awestruck by the magnitude of the impact that this simple practice has had on my life. 

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