Living in Lockdown

Living in Lockdown

Jo Mitchinson - AquaSphere and MP Brand Ambassador

When my parents first took me to the pool for swimming lessons 37 years ago they wanted me to be safe in water. When I joined a swimming club 36 years ago they wanted me to enjoy my swimming. That’s all they’ve ever wanted. Be safe and enjoy it. I remember the exact day I learnt to swim- it’s one of my earliest memories. Hartham pool, open air, small pool, swimming underwater back to the side. I remember the colours that the sunlight created underneath the water & I remember the muffled sound of being submerged as life went on above me. 

I didn’t bother learning to breathe because I couldn’t see the point. If I got there quick enough I wouldn’t need to. I passed my 5m & 10m badge before failing my 25m because I didn’t know what to do when I ran out of breath. I panicked & my teacher grabbed me before I drowned. So I tried again the next week, simply took a bigger breath before I set off & passed. Eventually of course I did have to learn. 

Swimming genuinely is the only thing that’s ever come easily to me and I’ve always loved it for that. I remember Dad asking me one day (aged 5 maybe??) if I could keep my legs together & move both arms at the same time. I pushed off & swam fly. I have always been competitive- but was never very good at anything apart from swimming. Academically I struggled. I remember a primary teacher telling me “there’s more to life than being academic Joanne”. I loved that teacher and her words were exactly what I needed to hear at that point for my self confidence. Years later of course I also realised that if I’d have had the brain power to be a doctor or lawyer she probably wouldn’t have said it. But it was a fab way of phrasing “you’re not the sharpest tool in the box- but at least you’re good at swimming”. 

What my parents could never have known when they took me swimming, 1st once a week, then 9 times a week was that I was also developing a coping strategy that would last far longer than the Olympic dream ever would. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve dived into a pool & cried into my goggles. I’ve swam to process the pain of injury, illnesses, relationship breakdowns, miscarriages and the deaths of both family and friends. I’ve switched off in pools to help me cope with some of the toughest times in my life.

So no one that really knows me even batted an eyelid when the first thing I did upon learning I’m going to be housebound indefinitely was order a large paddling pool, create tethers to keep me in one spot & jump in. The reaction has been comical. I was inundated with messages from people I don't know asking how I’d done it & what they should order. I featured in The Telegraph in an article on people being a bit weird during lockdown. Some people have even questioned my ‘training method’ & capacity to train in 2.6x1.6m. That’s missing the point spectacularly!! I know I won’t get fitter by swimming in a paddling pool for 3,4 or 6 months!! This is about sticking to the rules of the shielding group, realising I’m in this for the long haul & continuing to be able to enjoy the feeling of being immersed in water. Water is my calmness, my thinking space, my escape & my sense of normality in all of this. It’s not about being fit or competition ready at the end of all this, it’s far, far more important than that. It’s about being able to access a tried and tested coping strategy that’s been 37 years in the making and still being able to cry into my goggles if I feel overwhelmed, scared, upset or angry. Everyone needs a 'go to' coping strategy at the moment. For now, mine just happens to be a paddling pool on my patio.