The Waterwoman
She remembers growing up being surrounded by water throughout her life. Whether it be the pool in the backyard, friends’ pools, lakes and beaches, canoe trips, or sailing. She believes water is in her blood and flows through her veins (maybe part mermaid).
Her grandfather was in the navy, and he loved to sail, her dad was a sailor too and loved being on the water. She remembers when she was a tween her mum took her to swim club, she remembers early morning swim training and swim meets, and eating lots of food as swimming made you hungry all the time! This was the start of her journey to becoming a Waterwoman.
She was sidelined in her early Waterwomen years and was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (UC). This was a deep dive. Being fully submerged in a diagnosis with UC, it was like it was the springboard into FULLY living her life. UC pushed her in the direction of being an unstoppable badass while also listening to her body.
First, she started doing shorter distance triathlons, then jumped into more endurance with half Ironman, then a full-distance Ironman. She found that longer endurance was better for her body. She got to know what her body could achieve and when she needed to pull back and rest to ensure she did not go out of remission. The journey of going into remission was hard for her.
Testing different medications, going through different trials, and placebos, and receiving help from numerous doctors until she landed on a medication that works to this day, and a doctor who listens to her dreams but also keeps it real.
Life then hit another big bump in the road that forced her to derail, reroute, grieve, and start yet another healing journey. Divorce and infidelity hit her pretty hard. She did know one thing, water was her place to retreat. It was the first place she went on the day she found her life was changing. Little did she know that day was the day that led her in the direction of her dreams and living her best life. It was another deep dive only to be soaked with the confidence, bravery, and resilience that the water gave to her. She dipped into this space while in water where her thoughts and dreams came to her.
She released being a triathlete and knew 100% that embodying her Waterwoman was being in the water all the time, so that meant SWIMMING! She dove into new challenges in the Openwater and started smaller and built up to 11k events, then brought back the love of swim racing in the pool and started competing in masters pool swim events. This lit her up from the inside out!
As she moves through her life being a full-time Waterwomen she knows in her soul that this is the right path as water brings pure joy into her life. She wanted to spread this joy outwards to other Waterwomen or soon-to-be Waterwomen. She became a swim coach and started up a squad “Fearless Warriors”, and then started coaching women in the pool and open water. She is building empowering heart-led communities for Waterwomen to connect & amplify; thrive as their authentic beautiful self in and out of the water.
She has a clear message for Waterwomen; Instead of thinking about what your body looks like, make a shift to, “Look at what my body can do.” Think about this… your body can achieve so much! Think about all the goals you have achieved in your life; how did you get there? Your body got you there, not the way you look got you there.
What if the next time you put on your fabulous sexy swimsuit you took a good look in the mirror before you headed on to the pool and said to yourself “Look at what this beautiful body of mine can do” How would your mindset change? How would you walk onto that pool deck? How would your confidence shift? Look at what your body can achieve, over what your body looks like, this is when you will step into your confident Waterwoman.
Swimming and water continue to teach her how to grieve and not rush through the heart-breaking emotions of the loss of close friends, and family members. Water teaches her how to slow down and go with the flow of her feelings, to release tears of emotion into the water and allow them to be washed away to bring clarity.
Emotions are like tides; one minute the tide is high and the next it's low and this is where you can find treasures like shelling on a beach, these treasures help us with the healing process. This has also taught her to be resilient, dedicated, committed to a goal, brave, fail, succeed, celebrate the moments of glory, and be a leader in her community and beyond!
Waterwomen have a special connection and understanding about water. They understand how water can heal and bring peace into their lives, and how water creates community around the globe, Waterwomen have immense respect for water and how powerful it is but know that water will never judge you no matter what.
She connects with the water, trusts the water, builds community from the water, and leads from the water builds confidence from the water, respects the water, grieves in the water, re-built in the water, and has transformed into the Waterwoman she is today.
