Jumping the white horses

People who know me will recall my lifelong years as a keen horsewoman. I have fond memories of when I genuinely did jump a white horse (well - little pony called Polo) over some drift wood on the beach one day with my best friend before a picnic adventure on the shores of The River Bann which was so exciting. The white horses I refer to here of course are not of an equestrian nature but marine, when the crest of a powerful wave breaks and forms the shape of white horses powering through the ocean to the shore.

When you stand on the shore, look at the sea and decide to enter the water, the first few footsteps are the hardest. Some people choose to go slowly, swearing and hopping like a cat on a hot tin roof with every step as they adjust to the temperature, while others will run in a straight line jumping the little waves until its deep enough to swim. Once you’re in, your in. However what next? There are still waves coming towards you and you need to get through them…do you jump up, lifting your arms and crash through them? Or do you take a sharp inhale and dive under them and burst out the other side where it’s calm?

With any project in life or at work, it is normal to encounter challenges which need to be addressed and resolved, which I personally gain great satisfaction from. Since beginning this swim adventure I've overcome several rather interesting hurdles to date. In this sense I refer to a hurdle that is something that has made me stop, sit back, stretch my arms behind my head and consider if I should still proceed with my plans. I am glad to say all of these I have managed to use mind over matter and know that it doesn't matter how you get through the White Horses, it just matters that you do!

Over the next few days I’m going to share the top 3 challenges I’ve confronted so far.

Photograph credit: "Waves in pacifica 1" by Brocken Inaglory - Own work. Licensed under GFDL via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Waves_in_pacifica_1.jpg#/media/File:Waves_in_pacifica_1.jpg

Jumping the white horses

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Heather Clatworthy