I think this idea has the potential to be a regular post on this blog! Hear me out: I was having a bath today (in the dark, with candles lit and The Rural Alberta Advantage playing) and started thinking to myself how much I love taking baths. Really long baths that result in pruney hands and not really feeling that clean, but leaving the bathroom as relaxed and clear headed as a person can be. I remember loving baths when I was a kid. I would spend hours in the tub playing with Little Mermaid toys and wishing I could live under the sea with Ariel and Flounder, and today I realized that I’ve been slowly falling back into love with being in water.

I’ll make a bit of an aside here and explain that I started hating being in the water as soon as I started working as a swimming instructor, a mini-career that lasted from 2007 until last year. Standing in the water for 3 and 1/2 hours trying to pull children away from the wall of a pool while their parents scowl at you from the lobby is no longer my idea of a good time. I must admit that getting toddlers to put their faces in the water, and perfecting a teenagers breaststroke, are extremely satisfying moments, but they are too few and far between to make everything else worth it. But back to the love.

Over the summer I started swimming laps with a friend of mine who has goals of competing in several triathlons next year. While I struggled to get back into shape and keep up with her work load, I managed to look forward to hopping into the pool with her several times a week. I’ve had conversations with people who think swimming laps is the most boring and uncomfortable form of exercise out there, and I understand their frustration but that’s exactly the reason I love it. There are no distractions. No music pumping you along, no tv screens obstructing your view, and no giant muscle heads staring through your sports bra. This little revelation came to me today while I was in the bath. I realized I was enjoying myself so much because I was forced to be alone with my thoughts, I couldn’t play with my phone or google cat photos, I could only hang out with myself.

All in all the water makes me happy. And that my friends is what I would like to share more regularly: the things that make me happy. I’m imagining a sort of laundry list of things that make me smile on the regular. The only premise being that these things are free or low cost as opposed to a list of things I want to but to make me happy (these posts are weird and I’ve seen them posted on a bunch of other blogs). Also I promise these “… = Happy” posts won’t all be as long as this, I feel like I’ve been…rambling.

xoxo