🌊 When Did You Last Stop Worrying What Others Would Think?

I spotted a small wooden, handmade gift in a shop window in Folkestone this week. It simply said: Go Wild.

Not long after, I noticed two women bobbing about in the not-so-calm sea — laughing, steadying themselves, completely unfazed by who might be watching, and we are in the middle of winter!

Last summer, I made a conscious effort to start my own wild swimming adventures and I’ll be honest — I only swam close to the shoreline, in calmer waters, but I tried and I’m really glad I did.

A couple of summers before that, I wouldn’t have dared walk towards the sea in my swimsuit at all, I was deeply body-conscious, convinced that the entire beach was watching and judging me.

Now? I’m still body-conscious — but I no longer let it stop me from doing what I want to do.

It made me think about how often we stop ourselves before we’ve even begun, because someone might have an opinion or we've talked ourselves out of doing it.

Wild swimming isn’t brave because it looks impressive, it’s brave because it asks you to stop monitoring yourself, you step into the water and breathe through the discomfort, and then you feel the reward, the relaxing moments that you are allowing yourself.

Most women aren’t lacking confidence., but carrying the weight of other people’s expectations or our own.

What will they think? Will I look silly? Should I be doing this at my age?

That constant self-editing is exhausting.

Stopping worrying what others think doesn’t mean you stop caring, it means you stop letting imagined judgement run your life. Stopping over thinking and trusting your gut feelings is your step towards believing in yourself.

The truth is, our gut instinct usually knows very quickly what’s right for us and it’s only when we overthink , that we turn something neutral into something negative.

For me, wild swimming is a reminder that discomfort passes and self-trust grows.

It’s not the risk of saying yes that holds us back —it’s the quiet cost of saying no.

Sonya xx