298. Put a Toe In the Water

June 18, 2024•Ep. 298•4 min 29 sec

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It’s intimidating to start a new hobby or do an activity you’re not *great* at. Ellen called us to share that even though she was nervous to start swimming again, she showed up.

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If you have anxiety, depression or any sense of the world around you, you know that not *everything* is going to be okay. In fact, many things aren’t okay and never will be!

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Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

Nora: I’m Nora McInerny, and this is It’s Going To Be Okay.

This is a daily podcast, and it’s also a group project. Every day, we try to put a little bit of okay in your day. We want you to start or end your day with the opposite of a doom scroll, so we bring you one okay thing every day. Here we go.

Ellen: This is Ellen. Okay, thing for today. 47 year old lady who has had periods of my life where I’ve been super athletic and active and periods where I have not. Years ago, like 8 to 10 years ago, I swam at a gym I belonged to all the time. Loved it. Felt so good. But then the gym got too expensive as my kids got into sports and I wanted to transition into being outside more and running and so I stopped swimming.

Well, circle back to today, and my sweet, hairy, menopausal, flottily body, whoop, that does not like impact like running, and I’ve been thinking, oh, I want to swim again, I want to swim again, but I’m so afraid of doing it because I don’t remember what the process is, and I don’t remember how it’s supposed to go, and how do I pick a lane, and how do I share a lane, all those first time things that just Frankly scare the crap out of me.

But I set a goal for myself earlier in 2024, and I said, I’m gonna do it over spring break. I researched places and lane times and all the things, and then I reached out to a friend and said, Hey, I think you belong to this gym. Would you wanna do this with me? And she said, yes. And the thing that makes me feel like it’s gonna be okay is that today I did it.

I literally put my toe in the water and got started doing this thing again. And it really, the fear of doing it for the first time was the barrier to entry, and now, watch out, I am going to be the next Michael Phelps or some other swimmer. I’m kidding, I’m not. But, asking a friend for help, even though it completely embarrassed me, and then her saying yes, and then me doing it!

Ah, so good. So, I smell like chlorine, but I know it’s gonna be okay.