Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do you do? You swim, swim, swim.

Swimming has pretty much been my life since I was five years old. My mum has told me stories about taking me swimming when I was a little girl.
Before I had even learnt to swim I had always loved the water....everything about it excited me. The way it felt on your skin, the way it moved so effortlessly and how you would appear weightless bobbing up and down in the pool. As soon as I was old enough (a couple of months) my parents took me swimming, and when I could walk and talk, I used to beg and plead with them to let me sit on the bottom of the pool. Obviously they refused as I hadn't learnt to swim, so when I knew they weren't looking I would make my great escape running to the deep end and plunging into the water, to sit on the bottom of the pool staring up at them with my big blue eyes as they came chasing after me. Eventually they learnt to let me have my way (stubborn little thing I was) and they would wait a few seconds while i sat contently on the bottom of the pool before fishing me out. I used to be jealous of fish, as I too wanted gills so I could swim for hours without needing to surface for breath (LOL).
I joined a swimming club when I was five and stayed there swimming socially and competitively until I was 18 (before socialising and alcohol became the main focus of my life), often swimming four times a week. I met my best friends at that club who I still see even now and always look forward to meeting up with when I come home from Uni.
Over the past few years I have barely swum at all, which as sad as it sounds, really does upset me - it feels like a part of me is missing. However, over the last couple of months, I have tried to go as often as I can, gradually building up my strength and stamina.
I went swimming this morning before I started work, and I had honestly forgotten how good it feels. Your mind focuses on swimming alone, you don't think about anything else - it doesn't matter, and you automatically feel stress free. Even now, 10 hours later, I still feel fantastic. I suppose what swimming does to me, is what yoga does to others. It really is a feeling that no words can express. I think it is and always will remain an important part of my life.

I want to watch finding nemo now......