Last week, I was hoping to complete my big sea swim that I have been training for, for the last 8 months. Unfortunately, the weather gods had other ideas, and my swim has been postponed. This has been an intense focus for me this year with all my training and healthy eating geared to this date so to have it postponed was strange. I am a quick decision maker and knew it was the right thing, but it still felt a little numb and disappointing. Reflecting on it over the last week, I realise that I don’t want to wish it away in that one moment. This is a journey that I am enjoying hugely. It started off as a way to celebrate entering a new decade and to push myself on my swimming journey – my birthday present to myself! Throughout the year, I have expanded my swimming community with incredible new connections, I have put myself in swim classes where I feel very daunted, I have lifted weights I never thought were possible and I feel fitter than ever before. What’s more, I am thriving on the exercise and feel more resilient and joyful about life. I’m embracing a happier, fitter, more resilient, me, one that even 10 years ago, I would not have thought was ever a possibility. With this comes growth and expanding possibilities – who knows what’s around the corner! The arbitrary date of the swim is useful to give me a focus, and I am buzzing to do it, but I don’t want it to be the end, I want it to be a milestone in a continuing journey. So, whilst it is a little frustrating to have to wait, I am going to continue to enjoy the journey, knowing that force 3 winds would have been tough. I am going to embrace uncertainty and know that this week has been so productive and exciting in other ways because I didn’t swim. I’m going to know that it will happen when the time is right. And most of all, I am going to try and enjoy it and not wish it away.  So much of our lives are busy rushing and ticking things off so we can move on to the next big thing. This is too important to me and who I am becoming to rush it and see it as another tick box exercise. This postponement has shown me that I need to enjoy this phase of the journey for a little longer and know that in every moment there is growth. So next time you are wishing away a milestone, take a moment to enjoy the journey, celebrate the wins, recognise how it has transformed you and hold on to what you will take forward in the next exciting chapter of your story. (And in case you are wondering, I am hoping to complete my swim in the next 3 weeks, weather permitting, so I will keep you posted 😊)

When I worked on the Thames Diamond Jubilee River Pageant in 2012, I was bombarded with jargon…SAG, LOSPG, C3. The job was a step up for me and trying to navigate the acronyms didn’t help with my imposter syndrome. A few weeks in, I realised that lots of people were struggling with the same thing. We’d all sit in meetings, and no-one wanted to look silly. It took one brave person to ask for an explanation and you would see the relief fill the room. I even changed the LOSPG acronym in one meeting to see what would happen and no one batted an eyelid or had any idea what the acronym was supposed to be! Over the years, I have got braver about asking when I don’t understand something. I think this also comes with confidence. Yet I did experience the same feeling when I started swimming training sessions this year. It took me a long time to sign up to classes because I was worried that I wouldn’t understand the jargon around swimming drills. And as expected, I didn’t but the more I talked about it, the more I realised that I wasn’t alone. I also realised that people are only too happy to explain it to ensure that I understand what to do. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of wanting to understand fully, in order to do your best. The fear of asking is often tied up with how we perceive we will be judged. When I think about when people ask me things, I don’t have that judgement so why should they have it about me? We are often wrapped up in our own thoughts and our perception of what people think of us, is simply not true.  I know that acronyms and jargon are supposed to make our lives easier but sometimes it feels like it’s being done to look good. Often a simpler way of communicating can be far more powerful and effective. We don’t need big words or jargon to prove we can do our jobs. By complicating things, we often exclude people. So have a think about whether your language is serving you and your community and whether there is a more effective way to communicate. We are all responsible for creating an inclusive, open and welcoming environment and we can do this by communicating clearly and being prepared to be vulnerable when we don’t understand.