This has been the summer of swimming for me. Not just swimming aspiration (as every summer is), but actual swimming. In lakes and oceans, and today, in my friend Kay’s fancy apartment complex pool.
We’ve written a lot about swimming on the blog this year. I mean A LOT. Certainly a lot more than usual, and a lot more than I recall from previous years. Why? Partly it’s a function of what our bloggers are into. But I think there’s something more going on here.
For me, swimming during the pandemic has been one of the few times I’ve felt total respite, a complete break from the fear and worry and fussing about disease risk, physical fitness, mental health or isolation. Whether I swim alone or with others, I’m aware of being held by the water, of moving under my own power, of gliding and submerging and floating, of breathing and holding my breath and then breathing again.
I joined the Boston Open Water Swimming Facebook group this year to get tips on where and when to swim in fresh and salt water around here. Thanks to them I got my ISHOF swim buoy and have been using it happily.
But (there’s always a but, isn’t there): I’m not swimming long distances. I’m not swimming fast, either. I haven’t even donned my swim cap and goggles to do any serious swimming (yet). At the ocean, I’ve gone in with friends or family, jumping waves, diving, floating, laughing and letting the surf swirl me around. In lakes, I’ve been wading in, heading for deeper water (my swim buoy following right behind me), and floating, treading water, swimming, diving, and enjoying the feel of being between water and air.
Then I saw this video, posted by on my FB group. This sloth is my summer-of-2021 swim mascot. Watch at least a little bit and you’ll see what I mean.
Yes, I am a slothful swimmer. Slow and steady and cheery and grinning and untroubled and unhurried.
We can learn a lot from animals doing sports in a slow and jaunty way.
Check out our penguin yoga post here: Penguin yoga galore
Wanna see a post of a wombat running? We have one here. Run like a Wombat!
Readers, are doing engaging in slow sports this summer? Tell me about it. In the meantime, come on in, the water’s fine!
