Finding a sense of belonging with a cold water swimming group

What do you do to protect and improve your mental wellbeing?

I’ve always been active and a competitive athlete. But I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I’ve started weekly counselling to help me understand the things I do and why.

Also, I am outdoors on the Pembrokeshire coast path, or cycling, or sea swimming at every waking opportunity, which helps me find peace and balance in a world which can seem overwhelmingly complex and fraught at times. I’ve stopped competing too.

What is one thing you have started doing in the last year that’s helped your mental wellbeing?

Swimming with the Bluetits has, quite literally, been a lifesaver. The camaraderie with the group in Pembrokeshire has transformed my life, and a cold water dip and a cup of  coffee at 7am never fails to make life seem special.

Why is looking after your mental wellbeing important to you?

Because, at the end of 2019, I had what I call a mental breakdown and reached depths I didn’t know were possible. I’ve struggled with depression ever since.

This is me at the top of the Preselis on my bike in the Pembrokeshire Coast national park. I like the photo because countless people have told me how truly happy I look in the picture and I am. For the first time in four years, I feel content and at peace with myself.

The things I used to enjoy doing, which got lost in those four years, have returned but this time with more understanding of myself.

It’s partly why I’ve recently changed my jobs and moved permanently to Pembrokeshire to live and work. I feel like I’ve found where I want to be in the world and the Pembs Coast National Park embodies everything that is.

Tell us about yourself to put your story in context and help others to relate to your experience.

My name is Laura. Toward the end of 2019, I was really struggling but I didn’t know why. I was having very dark thoughts and they scared me.

One day I decided I would go home after work and kill myself. A colleague recognised I wasn’t doing well and took me for a cup of tea in Starbucks.

I will be forever grateful for that, as that simple act of kindness and concern showed me that people did care, and my life was worth living.

The next three years were by no means easy – I continued to struggle with what I now know was depression and I was self-harming.

I started sea swimming in 2022 because I quite literally wanted to swim away and never return. But I found that swimming was actually the only time I was aware of my own feelings and my body. I loved it.

I carried on right through until that autumn, and that’s when I saw this group of women who just looked like they were having way more fun than me. I said hello, and they jumped on me, gave me a badge and proclaimed me a Bluetit.

And now I know them all; I see them every morning and on the weekends – we all have breakfast together at a local cafe after our 8am swim.

Everyone is there for their own reason. Stepping semi-naked into a cold sea in January is a uniquely bonding experience powered by the rush of endorphins and hot coffee afterwards. Every single Bluetit has had a positive impact on my life, and I hope I’ve had the same back.