Be Brave Today!

I recently watched Losing Sight of Shore on Netflix. Sooo good, great documentary. Anything that makes me think is something I want to see/hear more of. There was also a podcast from SwimBikeMom speaking to one of the six team members, so I listened to that today and got some inspiration as I was driving to a practice lake swim this morning. They literally crossed the Pacific, but one of the things that came out of it is the idea that everyone has a Pacific to cross… and you should find it! Whatever that means for you.

Here is the link for the podcast – it’s also on iTunes & other places…

http://thesame24hours.podbean.com/e/27-natalia-cohen-losing-sight-of-shore/

That documentary wasn’t a fast pace, lots of created drama for ratings type of thing. It was just a beautiful experience documented by 4 women (6 total) who rowed a long boat across the entire Pacific Ocean. From California to Hawaii was their first leg of three on the trip. Flying from CA to HI takes a while, so can you imagine rowing a boat with no motor the same distance? It’s hard to grasp the vast and open amount of space between those two land masses. They rowed in pairs…2 hours on, 2 hours off. For 9 months. I watched it last week, and heard the podcast this morning. It made me think about a lot of things. I don’t know what “my Pacific” is, but I knew one small thing I could do that would be scary, make me a little uncomfortable, but also make me grow…

The lake swim was choppy – more so than I had seen out there. I was also with a friend and it was her first time intentionally swimming in a lake for distance & practice. I had decided earlier today that I was not going to wear my swimsuit that I wear for laps. Instead I was going to be brave and wear my tri shorts and…….just a sports bra. (GASP!) Out in public. With other people around. With my stretch marks that surround my belly ring I got way before kids and somehow has stayed in place all these years.

…You know what? Nobody cared. Really. And neither did I! It was pretty great to be out in the water without feeling the need to be covered up completely in a conservative one piece suit for laps. The women who rowed did so totally naked sometimes. It helped prevent chafing and was just easy, and liberating. And just better. So I figured just having a sports bra & my triathlon shorts was totally doable. Thin, skinny people don’t really understand how cumbersome it can be to have boobs or curves. I know that people of all sizes can have body image challenges. I definitely don’t hate my body or get on the crazy train about it. But being half naked with your belly in sight isn’t something that comes easy or naturally for me. So that was a big deal…to do something that was intentionally uncomfortable and not easy.

I guess today that sports bra swim was “my Pacific to cross”. I hope to keep this mindset for as long as I can. I want to keep growing, challenging what I see as normal, and doing epic things – even as small as being brave enough to not wear a bathing suit at Jordan Lake.  =)

Oh, and if the women who did this expedition do something else that’s epic, fun, and crazy – I soooooooo want to join them!