Becoming more active: "Swimming has benefited my mental health"
Since January, we’ve been hearing from Shona, a 21 year old disability, lifestyle and beauty blogger on her swimming journey and becoming more active. Now, in her ninth blog post for us she tells us how swimming has benefited her mental health the most.
When I last blogged about my journey with swimming I was coming down from the high that was the Superhero Series triathlon, an accessible triathlon that was a joy to take part in. Life has since returned to normal though and I quickly found myself wanting to get back into the pool afterwards!
Swimming took a back seat over the summer but I’m just about back to swimming once a week now, it certainly hasn’t been easy though. During my first session back after my break I only managed 30 minutes in the pool, compared to the 45-60 minutes that I was managing a few months back. It was frustrating, and I felt a little like I was back to square one but I just reminded myself that I have to start somewhere. I know from previous breaks that I’ll be back to swimming regularly and for a decent amount of time soon enough.
I thought that because of my break getting back to swimming would be a little bit of a shock for my body. Whilst I was definitely aching and tired during the days after, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I’d imagined. My body and my symptoms can be pretty unpredictable, so I never truly know how a session will affect me. However, 11 months in and there’s definitely a difference in how quickly I’m recovering compared to the start of the year, which has really been encouraging me to keep going. I think it can be discouraging when you aren’t seeing changes or an impact but for me it’s the benefit to my mental health that has been the biggest change. The feeling that comes with leaving the stresses of life on the side of the pool is what encourages me to go back again and again.
I truly can’t believe that I’ve been back swimming for almost a year already, when I set goals at the beginning of the year I think part of me knew that there was a big chance I wouldn't complete them. That being said, I can’t wait to tick it off my list at the end of December. For now, I’m working on getting back into a regular routine, including swimming on the same day and time of the week - I think the routine is helpful - and getting back to swimming a few lengths without stopping.
If you didn’t catch Shona’s last blog post, you can read it here.
Photography credit: Maciek Tomiczek
