How to be happy: naked lake swimming?

What do you do to relax your mind and feel free and happy?

I just got back from a mini break

We drove across to Wales to visit a friend who lives in the mountains

It is a gorgeous place to visit and offers so much in the way of activities and sights and just generally being in the middle of nowhere

I turned off my phone and emails and took a real break from everything

It was great!

We did some walks around a beautiful lake

The weather was TERRIBLE though

I hear it was sunny back in Leicester as well

Up in the mountains it was raining horizontally because of the incredible winds!

We were literally being blown off of our feet

It was super fun though and we loved it

The scenery was amazing

In the evening on Saturday we went to a film festival

I didn’t really know what to expect as it was a tiny little village and it hadn’t been well publicised

The film we chose to watch was called ‘Wild Women, Inspirational women on film’

It told the story of different women who take part in sports and events

And it was really good!

There was one girl who is a professional climber who was competing in the world cup events and not quite getting the results that she wanted

So she decided to give that up to climb outdoors

Because she knew that that would make her happy

And she has set down some records for outdoor climbing now

There was another lady who became paralysed at the age of 21 and has since taken up wheelchair cycling and now competes professionally for GB and is on track for Rio

At one time she felt like giving up

But now she loves every moment of every day

There was another lady who lived locally in Llanberis and was actually in the audience that night

She hikes up to different lakes in snowdonia

And swims naked regardless of the temperatures

Which I can assure you, ARE COLD!

She gets a sense of freedom and happiness from doing this.

What do all of these women have in common?

Why am I sharing this with you?

…

Because there is NO conventional way to be happy OR healthy

These women found what they enjoyed

What made them happy

And took that path

They aren’t held back by fears and barriers (or clothes even)

I challenge you to access what makes you happy

What gets you excited

and what inspires you to get out even when its cold and wet and miserable out

Your energy and the smile that radiates from your face

Will heat up any cold day

Because you found something that you love to do, come rain, wind or shine

If you have found that thing already, then encourage others to share your passions

OR to find their own

Nicola ‘polar bear’ Rossell