Take the Plunge!
“Do one thing every day that scares you.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
As the article Reasons to do something that scares you stated... "When Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do something that scares you every day,” she wasn’t talking about watching the latest slasher film on Netflix. She was talking about stepping outside your comfort zone." - and comfort zones are something we are all acutely familiar with!
It's funny how life changes as you get older, and your inner desire to grow as an individual becomes a far bigger priority than many other things.
It all the started the night before, at a quaint little restaurant in the local town called "The Fishermans Cottage". We were meeting family who are visiting from abroad and as their time with us draws near to an end, we have been making an effort to see as much of one another as we possibly can - within reason obviously, lol!
A fantastic evening... probably a little toooo good as you can see by the two empty bottles of wine my brother and sister in law are boasting! We won't mention anything about the third bottle which was not even featured in this photographic evidence, lol! What's not to enjoy?! Good food, great company and excellent wine! As you can see - my dad didn't have any of the wine, lol... no, he was simply witness to all the "dutch courage" as is commonly referred - which was about to unfold:
"So! Who's keen on going for an early morning dip in the ocean tomorrow?!" Jayne declares, haha! Well, to my amazement... I got a yes from everyone, except my dad who still had his common sense in tact at the time! The decision was made! An early morning swim it was going to be... but not before the rest of my night over...
Once dinner was done - which did not end early I might add, we headed home and I had to attend to my "children" - my sourdough children that is! A little bread adventure I began embarking on a few months back... which I shared in my Bumpkinland Bread Therapy post the other day. I had sent a message to my whatsapp "bread group" for the locals in the village here, to say that I would be baking on the Friday and over the weekend. That meant I needed to be making dough from Thursday onward... which meant I HAD to feed my starters that night for the following day. Soooo this meant I was up even later than I needed to be!
It started at 6.30 am... I rolled over at the sound of my alarm, realised that I had a hangover from hell and then contemplated pretending that I had heard nothing at all and would simply continue to sleep. Five minutes later, Dave nudges me to tell me that he was looking at the tide table and it was the peak of high tide at that moment - clearly his hangover was as bad as mine, because it was apparent that we were both willing to make any excuse as to why we should not do this! Next moment, I get a message from my brother "Jaynie, I think we are going to give the swim thing a miss". I smiled with relief and got up to go tell my son that he could ignore the alarm that he had set for himself.
As I walked into his room, there he is, haha - already standing in his swim shorts... eyes barely open, lol hahaha!!! In that moment, I felt like the worst parent on earth. I went back to David and told him that we HAD to go - because clearly Jude was pretty excited... which may have been motivated by the R100 which I bet him the night before for whoever got into the water first, lol. So, off we went... hangovers and all (not Jude obviously... he's 14 and I am not THAT bad a mom, lol)
The spot we were headed to is called "Davies Pool" and it is located in a little neighbouring village called Onrus which is about a five minute drive from where we stay. It is a gorgeous tidal pool area which is an absolute hub of activity in the mornings! As we arrived, there were already several people in the water, some who had already gotten out, people attending a yoga class on the grass, others grabbing a coffee, and the anticipated plenty dog walkers!
Honestly, in that moment... I really did want to chicken out! The tide was very high and admittedly, I am not the strongest swimmer! However, Jude had other plans! He ran down to a bench, dropped his towel, charged down the ramp and dove into the water. He was not letting that bet go!
I attempted to catch up to him, but there really was no hope. However, I made it to the water and yes... I jumped in too! Well DAAAAMN!!! If you are ever looking for an instant hangover cure - that is it right there, lol! That water was absolutely FREEZING!!! But... and it's a BIG BUT (isn't it always) - it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! Dave and I stayed in the water for a good ten to fifteen minutes and after some time it was more than manageable - not to mention that it literally catapulted my positive state of body and mind!
I was SO GLAD that we did not chicken out of doing it, despite being thrown MASSIVELY out of our comfort zone... given the added aftermath conditions the night before, haha! These early morning plunges is actually something we have been chatting about for some time... but simply haven't gotten around to doing - so it would appear that sometimes a little "dutch courage" compliments of red wine, can go a long way!
The benefits of this activity are literally endless and if it sparks your interest, then you should definitely check out Wim Hof and watch some of his videos on Youtube it really is quite inspiring... and eye opening!
But you know, forcing ourselves to do something we would not normally - that pushes us outside of our comfort zones, is not in any way limited to such extremes. In fact, it can be something as simple as breaking the habit of sleeping in, or going to bed late. You will be amazed at how hard your brain will work for you, to JUSTIFY an extra ten minutes of lying in the bed doing nothing! However, the reality is - when we "buck the system" and do the opposite, there is almost ALWAYS more to be gained and achieved for ourselves!
We have been to the tidal pool a couple more times in the morning since then - and hangover free too... and I can honestly say that it is such an incredible way to start the day! When we came out of the water, we grabbed a latte each and just sat around for a while, enjoying the view!
I would like to challenge myself like this and in other ways, a lot more often because it really is food for the soul! Speaking of food and no doubt thanks to our little morning mission, I did in fact manage to get the dough and the baking done and a whole bunch of happy bread loving customers by Saturday afternoon!
“We won't grow and learn, doing what we've always done, and thinking what we've always thought. We need to move beyond our comfort zones. We need to engage with new and different if we want to expand ourselves.” - Akiroq Brost
Here's wishing you all an AMAZING week ahead!
❤❤❤
Until next time...
Much Love from Country Bumpkinland, South Africa xxx
Jaynielea
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What an interesting epistle from you. It tells a whole lot. Getting off our comfort zone is the true way to success this new year because when we keep doing one thing all the time, we get same results. New approach is the key. I enjoyed your entry!
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Hi @ninapenda :)
Thank you for the lovely comment and for stopping by to take a read! You are quite right - life would be completely stagnant as well as boring if we never challenge ourselves with change!
I've always said to myself: I'm good for all sorts of crazy things, but I don't have to be able to do and like everything. Well... I can't swim and water is not my element. So... Are you insane???
hahaha!!! Probably a little @weisser-rabe!
I concur!