I made it! I was in the pool by 7.25am this morning, got in a good half an hour or so of swimming, then made it to work on time. This is, it seems, a thing I will be able to do — even if the pool's timetable was slightly wrong and they actually open at 7.30am on three of the five weekdays. And if their lockers are non-refundable — albeit thankfully only 10p.
The pool itself was enjoyably nostalgic, and reminded me a bit of the community pool where I grew up, which was on my secondary school campus. It obviously hasn't been particularly "renovated" for a long time — though it's all in good condition — and has some gloriously retro signs on the wall emphasising the expectation that there will be no "bombing" or "petting" during your time in and around the pool. I haven't seen a sign saying "no petting" since I was still at school, I don't think.
I enjoyed the swim. I'm not an especially strong swimmer and I'm very slow, but I don't really mind; I'm not doing this to be especially "athletic", I'm simply doing it as a means of getting moving a bit more and having some early-morning relaxation ahead of the working day. And it works; when I'm swimming, I tend to find that my mind gradually empties and the whole sensation is pleasingly anxiety-free, which for someone as naturally anxious as myself is an absolute delight.
Swimming up and down is boring, but it's a good time to sort things out in your head. I found myself composing the opening to articles, practising Esperanto and all manner of other things while I tuned out of the situation and ran on autopilot. So by the time I was finished it felt as much like I'd had a mental workout as well as a (very mild) physical one.
I'm going to try and make this a habit… although finding a 10p every day is going to be a pain in the bum given how little I tend to use cash these days!
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