Edition 6 — New beginnings
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Edition 6 — New beginnings
Welcome to Sprout!
We are tickled to share our re-brand with you from our new home on Substack. Sprout personifies all that our brand looks to offer: learning, curating, growing.
In addition to posting free content, part of Sprout’s journey is to introduce paid subscriptions. Paid subscribers will receive bonus content in addition to perks and discounts on Sprout offerings that are still in the works.
Subscriber fees enable Sprout to pay contributing writers and artists for their work. Fees also gift the Sprout team more time to create the meaningful content you enjoy.
Whether you would like to become a paid subscriber or continue reading for free, Sprout endeavours to inspire us all to thoughtfully engage with the world around us in a way that cultivates a meaningful and engaged life.
This announcement leads seamlessly into this editions theme. The gleam and shine of a new year haven’t dulled yet. However, there is a limit to how much we can really do right now in this historical moment of time. With this in mind, we have collated content relating to new beginnings.
Sarah Kelsey dives into cold water and describes her experiences with wild swimming. Comedian Jenny Slate wrote a book, Little Weirds, which has been a tonic for our lockdown brains and we will never see the world the same way.
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Open water, open mind
The moment the cold water hits your skin, your body’s reaction is shock: quickened breathing and accelerated heart rate. After a few deep breaths, your breathing slows to normal, your body temperature adapts and a sense of invigoration begins to spread.
Even during the summer months in the UK, the water is barely warm. All open water swimmers know they need to acclimatise when they dive in. Slowly, the cold water begins to feel less like a torture chamber and more like a peaceful place of solitude. At my first swim at the Serpentine Lido in London, I understood the freedom that so many wild swimmers are addicted to. This particular swim was in preparation for a long-distance swim I had optimistically, and bravely, entered myself into. The fear of being in cold water, the fear of being pecked by a ghastly looking swan soon fell to the wayside. I kept my head down and focused instead on watching my hands push through the swaying reeds in front of me as I glided through the water.
The UK has an abundance of wild swimming spots to explore the natural beauty around us: rivers, ponds, lakes, and oceans. Being outside the pool with no lanes or tiled walls forces you to grow aware of yourself. Your breathing, your strokes, your thoughts. Without lanes to guide you the lack of visibility can be daunting, even for the most advanced open water swimmers. But, with practice comes confidence, and with confidence comes the ability to enjoy the vulnerability of swimming in open, wild bodies of water.
I have a chronic illness that makes walking painful at times. Immersed in water, the pain magically dissipates. Supported by the water around my body feels lighter and the cold-water eases inflammation. I become completely weightless. Being in the water is my energy source. After a session of swimming, whether it be a dip in the sea, or a long-distance swim in a lake, I emerge from the water feeling renewed. Open water swimmers call this the afterglow. Blood rushes to the skin’s surface and a feeling of warmth spreads throughout your body like a welcome warm blanket.
There is a myriad of scientific benefits for swimming in cold water like anti-inflammation, improved circulation, and a form of workout recovery. The key takeaway is a sense of peace and re-balance. The water acts as natural stress relief, and for me, by removing some of the physical barriers that I so frequently become blocked by, I can take some time to breathe.
We all lead busy lives. Open water swimming provides a space to remove ourselves from the chaos and take it back to basics.
Words by Sarah Kelsey
Lead image via Huck, photograph by Alice Zoo
Little Weirds by Jenny Slate
I bought this a little over a year ago, and it has been sitting on my bookshelf, winking at me ever since. I got distracted by many other titles, as I often to. I didn’t pick it up until the final, darkest days of winter. Diving into Jenny Slate’s wonderful and poetic mind was an antidote to another boring (and cold) month in lockdown.
The book itself is a collection of memoir essays packed to the brim with metaphors and similes that describe everyday experiences as out-of-this-world adventures. Slate presents herself as a shape-shifting mystical creature who encounters equally interesting characters throughout the book. Have you ever met the ghost of a sea-captain or a french-kissing rabbit? Jenny Slate has. Slate’s writing reaches new heights when she loses her head at a dinner party when being mansplained to, much to the frustration of male guests.
Peppered throughout the text are soft, intimate moments that celebrate the wildness of life as an aesthetically-pleasing and memorable journey. Slate takes us out of reality and leaves us to float in the world she creates while she dazzles us with tales. She describes Valentines Day after her divorce with a particular brand of insight. “I am getting older but I am not growing up and my heart is getting soft dark spots on it like a fruit that has gone bad.”
At times Little Weirds does read a little performative. But Slate is a performer, so we forgive her. Plus, the performative aspect of her writing is what separates it from other books on the shelf. What are we reading it for if we don’t want performative escapism? I recommend this book to anyone who dreams vividly and enjoys re-telling their REM experiences to other people.
Words by Claire Dalgleish
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