The Cold Fix by Sara Barnes

Author:Sara Barnes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vertebrate Publishing
Published: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

SARAH

Sarah is proof that you can get the cold fix even if you don’t have a frozen lake within walking or driving distance. Although she’s an experienced cold-water swimmer and normally swims in the River Avon near her home in the Midlands, circumstances in 2020 forced her to seek an alternative way of getting her daily cold immersion. A simple garden wheelie bin filled from the outside tap and topped up with ice from the freezer compartment became not just a fun thing to try, but an unexpected way of connecting with friends, family and the cold-water swimming community.

‘How did I fall in love with a large, green, plastic wheelie bin?’ Sarah blushes now, but from January 2021, in the third national lockdown, she began a new relationship with cold water. It was an intense, passionate affair that lasted only a couple of months, but left its mark on Sarah forever. Every morning she woke thinking about this new lover. Suddenly, she had a purpose, whereas previously every day had merged into another beige day of working from home with no physical connection to her work colleagues, family or friends. Her husband was very understanding of her new companion and together they made sure she would be safe on the patio and had everything she needed within easy reach.

Her memories of this two-month affair with her garden wheelie bin are bittersweet: her first time winter dipping was in a wheelie bin, not in a lake or river; the first time she broke ice was when the water in the bin froze over and she got a rock and smashed through; her first snowy dip was sitting submerged up to her ears in her wheelie bin, catching snowflakes on her tongue like a child. Like most other people during this third, and potentially more ominous, national lockdown, Sarah was fearful about how long it would last, and whether there was any point in getting out of bed at all to face yet another day of confinement and disconnection.

She had seen other people cleaning out wheelie bins and filling them with water during the first lockdown, almost as a kind of joke and escape from reality, but had not been interested in doing the same. But, as December slipped into a bleak January, she knew her mental health was suffering: no energy, a lack of focus, a loss of sense of humour and negative thought processes replacing her usual playful and optimistic nature.

From the moment she first climbed into her bin, she began to heal. Each morning she set her intentions for the day, starting with a dip in the bin where she gave herself permission to switch off from all thought and just enjoy physical sensations as the cold water touched every part of her body. It became a habit to video her dips, and watching them afterwards she noticed everything about her facial expressions, how her body moved and reacted to the cold water. It was as if she was testing her body on a daily basis to see what her tolerance was, what her limits were.

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