Dear fellow swimmers
Earlier this week, we held a member event via Zoom on “Positive Psychology and Flourishing through Swimming”, with leadership coach Lexi Tinkler
(who used to work with us many years ago).
In the framework Lexi outlined, there are five components to flourishing, and swimming aligns neatly with them. The trick is intentionality. In brief, these are:
- Purpose Swimming can give us purpose in so many ways, from supporting our health and wellbeing, to helping others through coaching and teaching.
- Flow As we’ve discussed
elsewhere, swimming is a fantastic activity to help us achieve a flow state.
- Connection and relationships Swimming groups, particularly outdoor swimming groups, are ideal for connecting with a wide range of people.
- Positive emotions Swimming generates loads of these from the endorphins of a
cold water dip to the joy of completing a challenge and the simple gratitude of being able to swim in nature.
- Goals and accomplishments These can be grand, like completing a famous swim, or part of your daily training. Make a point of acknowledging every completed session. Even something as small as turning up for a dip on a grey morning counts. Noticing these small wins builds momentum.
The full recording is on our website. It’s worth a watch.
*SAVE THE DATE* Outdoor Swimmer Pool Party
Talking of connection, Outdoor Swimmer is 15 years old and we’re celebrating with a pool party at Hilsea Lido in Portsmouth on 6 June. It will be open to
everyone, with priority and discounted tickets for members. Look out for more details coming soon. It will be a chance to celebrate 15 years of Outdoor Swimmer with a big community splash.
Foundations for better swimming
On a different note, over at Renaissance Swimmer, I’ve created a short video course on how to build the foundations for long-term development in swimming. This is based on the approach I used to swim faster at 59 than ever. See how the ‘Foundations’ approach works.
Swim further and faster in open water
If you’re looking more specifically at building your open water skills ahead of this summer, we have a course for that too. Find out more.
Outdoor Swimmer Members get £10 off our Swim Further and Faster Course. If you're a member and haven’t seen the code yet, just drop me a note (simon@outdoorswimmer.com) and I’ll send it to you
