Greetings, book and treat people! On Monday morning, I drove 35 minutes to my new favorite lake for an early morning, before-work swim. I love a long morning swim in a deep lake or the ocean. I’ve been thinking about morning swims at Ashfield Lake since I went there for the first time a few weekends ago. Even so, for two weeks, I’ve been coming up with lists of reasons not to go: Driving 35 minutes to a lake is a whole production, a weekend adventure, not a regular Monday morning thing. I’ll have to change my whole morning routine to make time for it. It’ll make me late for the start of my day. Blah blah blah blah blah.
Im so into this argument for reading things we don’t get and without college level note taking or prescribing not letting ourselves finish the book until we do “get it.” I love letting stuff wash over me and absorb what clicks and letting whatever else pass me by. Maybe I’ll grab it or have space those concepts some other way, some other time. I’ve in the past felt silly or not my smartest at these moments but you made it all sound deep and intentional and I’m here for that!
I was so moved by your sharing the experience of getting to ashfield lake on a weekday. I felt it in my body, heart and soul! I’ve always tried to fit that joy into my life. I can’t wait to get there myself!
It's so lovely! Anytime you want to go just say the word! (Although I have been schooled and told that the locals say "Ashfield Lake" and not "the Ashfield Lake". I don't know why I want to insert a "the" so bad, but I do, so now I just say, "the lake". Lol.
I deeply admire your swimming, Laura. I am scared -- I mean absolutely terrified in a primal way -- of lakes and have tried every summer for many years now to try to get more than 30 feet from the shore in one, without success. My friend who is a long-distance open-water swimmer says that part of the practice of open-water swimming is managing your fear, and I believe him, I'm just not able to handle it (yet). (For me it's not the water or even the creatures -- though I never, ever want to enter a muskie's personal space -- it's the plants. If an aquatic plant so much as brushes any part of my body, I am suddenly just pure panic, nothing else.)
I wonder if perhaps you reframed the time spent driving to the lake. It seems like you think it's a little ridiculous because it's just ("just") for pleasure. I drive 25 minutes to work every morning and 25 minutes back every afternoon. How is it different, really? You're commuting to the lake and back 😊
I wish I had something to offer re: open-water swimming fear, but it is just not something I have ever, ever felt. (Actually I am probably not scared enough of lakes/oceans...water makes me feel so good and held that I'm basically fearless when I'm in a body of water. Though I can appreciate the plant thing. Aquatic plants are weird and a little ailen. And I promise I don't do anything stupid. I absolutely respect the ocean.)
But I suspect you would tell me to be kind to myself! So I hope you are, and that you enjoy water even if you aren't all the way out in the middle of a lake!
And yes re: commuting! I've been to the lake every morning this week and yesterday as I was driving I thought: this is a commute! I used to commute 30 minutes to work every morning and afternoon, too. Definitely a great way to reframe it, and, honestly, a much more fun thing to commute for.
I love swimming and am in the pool several times a week so I do deeply enjoy water, though it's never the same. I continue to work on lakes -- there's one half a mile from my house that I keep attempting, and one day I'm gonna go all the way across, plants be damned!
And yes, I would tell you to be kind to yourself -- which I only say, all the time, because it's what I also need to hear 🤍
Im so into this argument for reading things we don’t get and without college level note taking or prescribing not letting ourselves finish the book until we do “get it.” I love letting stuff wash over me and absorb what clicks and letting whatever else pass me by. Maybe I’ll grab it or have space those concepts some other way, some other time. I’ve in the past felt silly or not my smartest at these moments but you made it all sound deep and intentional and I’m here for that!
I'm so glad it resonated! It's been quite an amazing reframe for me, too.
I was so moved by your sharing the experience of getting to ashfield lake on a weekday. I felt it in my body, heart and soul! I’ve always tried to fit that joy into my life. I can’t wait to get there myself!
I can't wait to go there with you!
I am living for the lake content! The Ashfield Lake is on my western mass bucket list - can't believe I haven't been yet...
It's so lovely! Anytime you want to go just say the word! (Although I have been schooled and told that the locals say "Ashfield Lake" and not "the Ashfield Lake". I don't know why I want to insert a "the" so bad, but I do, so now I just say, "the lake". Lol.
This is the kind of local insider knowledge I need :)
I deeply admire your swimming, Laura. I am scared -- I mean absolutely terrified in a primal way -- of lakes and have tried every summer for many years now to try to get more than 30 feet from the shore in one, without success. My friend who is a long-distance open-water swimmer says that part of the practice of open-water swimming is managing your fear, and I believe him, I'm just not able to handle it (yet). (For me it's not the water or even the creatures -- though I never, ever want to enter a muskie's personal space -- it's the plants. If an aquatic plant so much as brushes any part of my body, I am suddenly just pure panic, nothing else.)
I wonder if perhaps you reframed the time spent driving to the lake. It seems like you think it's a little ridiculous because it's just ("just") for pleasure. I drive 25 minutes to work every morning and 25 minutes back every afternoon. How is it different, really? You're commuting to the lake and back 😊
I wish I had something to offer re: open-water swimming fear, but it is just not something I have ever, ever felt. (Actually I am probably not scared enough of lakes/oceans...water makes me feel so good and held that I'm basically fearless when I'm in a body of water. Though I can appreciate the plant thing. Aquatic plants are weird and a little ailen. And I promise I don't do anything stupid. I absolutely respect the ocean.)
But I suspect you would tell me to be kind to myself! So I hope you are, and that you enjoy water even if you aren't all the way out in the middle of a lake!
And yes re: commuting! I've been to the lake every morning this week and yesterday as I was driving I thought: this is a commute! I used to commute 30 minutes to work every morning and afternoon, too. Definitely a great way to reframe it, and, honestly, a much more fun thing to commute for.
I love swimming and am in the pool several times a week so I do deeply enjoy water, though it's never the same. I continue to work on lakes -- there's one half a mile from my house that I keep attempting, and one day I'm gonna go all the way across, plants be damned!
And yes, I would tell you to be kind to yourself -- which I only say, all the time, because it's what I also need to hear 🤍
Enjoy your new "commute!"
I will be cheering you on in all your lake dreams from the middle of my (very very small) lake halfway across the country!