Stroke Away the Stress

Our backyard pool was open for business this weekend and I was able to get in some swimming time.

I have this swim harness rigged up. Bungee cords attach to the fence on both sides of the pool, and then to a belt I clip around my hips. This way I can swim and swim without reaching the wall.

The water and the air are still chilly this time of year, and also in the fall, so I have a full-length wet suit. I'd post a picture but it's way too embarrassing. My kids can't look at me without shaking their heads.

But I don't care.

Swimming is my therapy. Both physical and psychological. And it's way cheaper than a shrink, as well as being great for the thighs and butt. A real win-win.

With my ears submerged in this soundproof cocoon, my mind wanders aimlessly. Problems concerning the kids or work that may have been nagging at me seem to ease as I kick and pull. I'm able to solve plot points for my writing and come up with new ideas for blog posts.

In the colder weather I have a stationary reclining bike. But it's just not the same. I used to swim at a health club but I grew too lazy and pressed for time. And besides, the goggle marks that could still be seen around my eyes even hours later were much scarier than the wet suit could ever be.

But next month the new Y opens out here, a first for the Vineyard. They have a huge pool that claims not to have eye-irritating chemicals. So maybe I'll be able to swim next winter without deep goggle-etchings on my tender, over-forty-something skin?

That would be awesome.

Because when I emerge after a half hour or 45 minutes in the pool, I'm calmer, wiser, better able to handle whatever crap will shortly, inevitably, be thrown my way.

I guess, when I look at it that way, it's not just therapy for me. It's therapy for the whole family.

 

What's your go-to stress reliever? Or are you still attempting to find one?

 

Comments

[Michele]

Our new place has a resistance pool that I am so looking forward to using. Let's see, we move in on Saturday and I think I'll be in the pool by Sunday morning.

[Vincent]

Does the bike in the pool generate more resistance or something, but why does it not rust.
But why have a pool on a island that size anyway, surely if you have a onesie you could join the local polar bears club. For I guarantee you that any fat on you will run screaming once you get into the north Atlantic in January.

[MrsBlogAlot]

Swimming is awesome. I can stay in any body of water for hours!

Blogging is my stress reliever for the whole family here.

Good for all seasons (-:

[Jen on the Edge]

For me, it's walking. I love it and could go for miles and miles.

I do find swimming to be relaxing too, but not in the same way.

[Erica@PinesLakeRedhead]

Swimming is my favorite all time activity. I live in FL and you have better access to a pool than I do! The local Y is overcrowded and the country club heats their pool (even in the summer). My parents have a pool but it's tiny. Makes me jealous of your harness.

[~The South Dakota Cowgirl~]

I love to swim! In Texas the pools are warm enough to swim in come about mid-march usually. The water is between 75 and 80 degrees. I have always lived somewhere with a pool since moving to Texas. Now we have no pool- but we do have a river! However that river water never gets about about 65! Yikes! Still fun!

Swimming isn't my stress reliever however. Shock of all shock- horses are!

[SuziCate]

We all need that kind of therapy. You're right, a win-win situation for the whole family. My stress buster is walking or biking.

[Mama Badger]

I can bike for hours and hours aimlessly (if PB isn't around to cause me to be competitive and get tired faster).

Our pool opened this weekend, too! LG is gearing up for swim lessons next month. Woo hoo.

I still want to see a picture of this rig. Bungy cords?

[BumbleVee]

Okay.... that threw me. Not the bungee cords and the swimming...that sounds like a great idea ...nor even the wet suit. That's a great idea. We'd be using one of those around here most of the summer...if anybody had a pool.... especially the last few days.... frost in the mornings...and it's June for heaven's sake.

No..the thing that threw me is this.... I couldn't figure out what I do for a stress buster. And, the answer is.... nothing. I must be the odd man out so to speak...because I don't think I have any stress if you can believe it. Well, I guess I don't anyway.... I can't really think of much .... If something is bugging me I usually just mull on it for a while....decide what I need to do to rectify things and then do it. Then,... maybe a good yell into a pillow and it's over. That happens about once every 4 years. My life is pretty simple .... and after growing up in a totally dysfunctional family....I love my "now" life.

[LPC]

Good for you. Somehow childhood years in the pool has translated to please don't make me swim for exercise now. I walk, do yoga, although not as often as I wish, in theory, I did.

[BigLittleWolf]

This was lovely (and entertaining) to read. Swimming is phenomenal exercise. I miss it. (Can't, post injuries in a car accident.)

My destressing comes from writing, and from walking. I cannot walk the way I used to (same accident), but I'm grateful to be walking - period. It's when some of my best words flow in, and my worries - at least temporarily - seem to flow out.

[lisleman]

A simple thing like a walk is good for me. I have always enjoyed swimming. Your post got me thinking about 2 things.
1 - Having grown up living in the central part of the country I was so excited when I first stepped foot in the ocean. Since I've wondered why people near the ocean would rather swim in a pool than the ocean. Salt water is not that bad.
2 - this bungee setup - too much - have you ever ran with it and jumped in the pool to see how far back it would pull you. (I take NO responsibility for any of my crazy advice)

[Sarah]

A much needed reminder that those 6 am swims are everything that I need to start the day off right! Would love to see you in that wetsuit. :)

[Sprite's Keeper]

Last night, my stress reliever was a back rub. But most of the time, it's reading, writing, or puzzles.

[Corinne]

That sounds lovely... I've never been a big swimmer (though my mother swam competitively at one point, and is excellent, I just never picked it up from her lessons...) but there is something so calming about exerting yourself in the water.

[Kristen @ Motherese]

I'm jealous. Like Corinne, I am not a great swimmer, but wish I were. (Especially these days when I have free access to a beautiful pool at the school where Husband works.) Yoga used to be my surefire stress reliever, but I haven't been in ages. Now it's ice cream. :)

[Erin]

I love to walk in the woods, and I bike in the winter like you, but if I had my own pool, I would be a swimmer.

Your pool seems like a little slice of heaven.

[Peg]

Your pool is gorgeous. I wish I could swim. Well, I CAN.... like a rock! I can do a mean dog paddle though. Walking is therapeutic for me but it's rained every day for like the last three weeks. :-(

[Rowe]

A good walk outdoors will usually do the trick for me, Maureen. I swam a lot during my early childhood years, living around the corner from the beach, which also had a salt water pool. I think any form of physical activity is a great stress reliever; for me, these days, it's getting off my lazy arse and doing housework (which I really REALLY hate). So, I guess, housework is my go to stress release - I do feel better when it is done :)

[jessica]

I SOOOOO know that goggle "look" if I have an audition or a date, I can't swim and yet I love it. I have been doing it for over a year now. at the moment I have had rotator cuff problems but I'm hoping to be back in the pool on Friday.

And you are right. It changes me completely I'm a better mother, friend, writer everything after a good workout.

[Pseudo]

I love swimming too, but I tend to do it all in the ocean. If I had a pool, that would be a whole lot different though.

[TheKitchenWitch]

I'd pay good money to see you in your wetsuit, rigged up with the bungee cords!

Swimming relaxes me, too, in ways other forms of exercise don't. I think it's something about the weightlessness we have in the water.

I'm jealous of your non-eye-irritating pool at the Y. I went swimming for half hour on Tuesday and my eyes were like little red firepits for hours.

[Jill]

I am certainly not wiser when I crawl out of the pool...more like drunker with less brain cells.

[Jan]

Oh, I miss our pool in Texas. How I miss our pool...

I'm with TheKitchenWitch - I'd pay good money to see you in a wetsuit, rigged up with bungee cords!!

[Nicki]

I love to swim but not sure in place would help me de-stress. I love to run. I will go out more than once a day if the day is really bad.

[Terry]

Me too. Swimming is my thing. I love the sea. Body surfing. Diving waves.

Great exercise. I need to get a wetsuit so I will get my butt into the bay everyday. It's just so cold.

[Gropius]

Now you're what I would refer to as one serious swimmer! You must post photos of you harnessed in that thing with your suit on! Stress relief for me? Curled up in the bed reading, taking a brisk walk on a nature trail or escapism at the movies. Only one of those involves any increase in heart rate, unfortunately. :)

[Jason]

Ummm....a different kind of stroking.

[Twenty Four At Heart]

Is the Y pool salt water? Our pool is and it's much easier on eyes, skin, hair. I love to be in the pool, but I don't know if I one thing I can pinpoint as my stress reliever.

[Heather]

Now I know I am outta touch with reality...You live on an island surrounded by water AND you have a pool. Boggles my desert mind! jk

I don't have much stress, but when it does come along..I usually start rearranging furniture or super deep cleaning of things already clean. Crazy, right?

[Kingsmom]

It was running....

But I'm replacing that with reading. Not as good for the thighs or butt. Oh well.

[Jane]

OK. Not only do we share the same daugther (I read today's post first) but we're have the same psyche! When I was first divorced I began going to the city pool during lap swim (I used to be a competitive swimmer) and started swimming again a few days a week. I laughed to my therapist and said, "Swimming is better than therapy! I think you may be fired!" I was kidding, of course, but I couldn't believe how helpful it was just swimming for 1/2 an hour. Absolute heaven!

[Linda at Bar Mitzvahzilla]

Love the bungee cord idea. I'll have to tell my husband about that since he's the swimmer in our family. No swimming for me. I can't even dunk my head without a snorkel, nose plugs and goggles. Also, there's the hair problem. Doing it twice in one day is more than I could face.

For stress and exercise, I start off every day with my beloved Jazzercise - 21 years and counting! Nothing makes me happier.

[TC]

Mowing, gardening, or watching mindless tv is my stress buster,if it gets bad I write it in an email or blog...or yell on VERY rare occasions.. LOL. GOOD for you and the pool, looks VERY inviting...

[Casey]

I'm with you on relaxing in the pool. Well, not relaxing but unwinding. It's harder with the kids but I swear, I had such a bad week last week and the ONLY peace and quiet I got was when I snuck away to the deep end (where the kids aren't allowed) and dunked my head underwater for a few seconds.