It's Freezing Outside. But I Jumped In The Ocean Anyway. Here's Why...

The waves relentless consistency, coming in and going out.

That first step into the water

Diving under an incoming wave

Feeling the world fade away, one wave at a time.

I started ocean swimming at the beginning of 2020. I had recently moved to the eastern suburbs of Sydney 10 minutes away from the beach when a friend convinced me on a hot summer's day that we should commit to jumping in the ocean everyday.

I dived in head first.

I managed to swim a solid 3 months till COVID dashed my dreams and our beaches closed. Despite that, I swam for almost 200 days in 2020.

Here's the thing, I didn't grow up near the water. And the truth is the ocean kind of scared me. But I swam. I swam in the calmest surf and in 6-foot waves. I swam in the ease of summer days and in the biting cold of winter.

I learned a lot about resilience along the way.

When you jump in the ocean every morning despite the weather or the conditions, it's usually the toughest thing you're going to tackle that day. Everything else is a walk in the park.

When you're bobbing around in the waves watching the sunrise on the horizon the rest of the world seems so far away. All the stress, all the worry all the anxiety just fades away with the tide.

And then there are the people you meet. Day after day you turn up and you see familiar faces, some of who have been turning up daily for the last 50 years. You smile, you chat, you dive into together.

You're part of this ancient sacred salty club.

Come join the conversation on Twitter, it's much more fun with friends.