I’ve found myself navigating a busy period of work – not just busy but a lot of brain-switching between wildly different projects. Amazingly my swimming doesn’t suffer during these busy periods – I still manage to fit my swims into the week, no matter what’s on the agenda. However, I noticed that other elements of my life have been neglected in the last couple of months. In particular – reading. I finally started a book at the weekend that I have been trying to start since the beginning of March. Why does the swimming never suffer, and yet other things do? I’ve thought about it and think there are a couple of things going on for me: The benefits of swimming radiate through all aspects of my life – mind, body, spirit – I always feel better after a swim, and I know that feeling so well that I always know that it is worth carving out the time for it I have found times that are flexible and work with my routine. I build enough flex into the week so that when things get busy, I can find another way to make it work Swimming is always front of mind when I am planning my week In essence, swimming is a big non-negotiable part of who I am and my whole being. When I started my book this weekend, which is about walking alongside grief, it was an incredibly uplifting read. However, I realised that the perception I had been carrying beforehand was that it might be hard going and so had prioritised something seemingly lighter like watching TV over reading. It comes back to what James Clear and others have said about habits – you need to find a routine but also recognise the reward and benefits of doing them. So how can I work on this? I know I need to bottle the feeling of when I started my book and remember how it nourished my soul I can be more creative about when and where I read, particularly when the rest of life is busy I need to accept that there are some ebbs and flows in what I can do in busier period BUT I have a choice and, for me, it’s about listening to my heart and making more mindful choices My own fulfilment suffered because I didn’t truly appreciate the rewards I would get from reading. So next time you are doing something and get in flow, think about how it makes you feel and write down that feeling. The more we keep those feelings front of mind, the easier it becomes to prioritise what makes us come alive and in turn, we can live a more fulfilled life.

The saying goes “Find your tribe” and we do crave belonging and being part of a community. When I look at my university friends some of us bonded over music, others over being the one not picked for the sports team, others over our shared love or shared hate of something and quite a few over the fact that we couldn’t do a backward roll! It makes us come alive when we find some common ground and connect. With some friends, the reason we bonded is no longer a shared interest, but we have evolved and grown together and a common sense of being has kept the friendship alive. Sometimes I think being part of a tribe can limit our horizons and opportunities to grow; the stories we tell ourselves plays a part in this. When I took up swimming, I thought I’d always be bad at it and slowly that story is evolving and yet I still don’t fully give myself credit for who I have become. I was recently on a long-distance swimming training week and despite walking in with imposter syndrome, I came away feeling fully part of a new tribe. The sense of a shared passion and interest, despite being at different stages of the journey, was incredible and opened my eyes to what might be holding me back. I came away realising it’s ok to be vulnerable and share fears but at the same time, I have to celebrate me today, not me 10 years ago. We often hold on to those stories because it’s easier. If I let go off the “I’m rubbish at sport” story, I have nothing to hide behind and no excuses not to try and perform better. It can seem cosy and comfortable to stay in our current tribe but if we don’t push ourselves to explore, to try new things, we won’t grow and will never truly know what we’re capable of (or not capable of). We learn just as much from things not working out as from things that do. We may find ourselves telling stories about the tribes we’re not part of to justify our exclusion, whilst deep down we might really quite like to join them. There are negative stories about most groups but if we look deeper, I am sure we would find some people to connect with. Sometimes we are looking for an excuse not to dip our toe in.  So let’s keep challenging who we are and who we want to become and rewrite those stories as often as we need to. Let’s find our tribe but why not seek out another one or two and two tribes don’t always have to go to war.