Extreme swimming with a message

While warming up from a chilly afternoon swim in the Davoser See (photo above) the other day, I watched the latest of the TED Talks, a lecture by cold water swimmer Lewis Pugh. In a nutshell, he is a publicity seeker with a message on climate change. A few years after a pioneering (NON-WETSUIT!!!) swim across the North Pole, Lewis travelled to the Himalayas to swim across a lake situated in the shadow of Mt. Everest. The conditions were undoubtably insane for a plunge (1k at 5300m and 2 degrees C), but his choice of swimming location was important in the context of climate change. The glaciers in the region are melting at an alarming rate and are the source of water for nearly a THIRD of the world’s population. As the water supplies dwindle, there is an even greater risk of instability in the region.

Although some cynics might dismiss Lewis’ feat as a publicity stunt that will do little to stem the tide of global climate change, we all can take away an important message from his talk. In order to complete his swim across the glacial lake, Lewis had to completely alter his approach to the task. After a failed practice swim a couple of days before that led to his near drowning, Lewis and his team realized that his old methods of coping with the extreme cold wouldn’t work. Instead of an aggressive struggle through the water, he had to swim in a calmer, more transcendental manner. While Lewis links the need for a change in swimming mindset to the need for a change of mindset in regards to our approach for climate change, we can apply this lesson to any type of struggle. Sometimes we have to completely abandon old patterns and adopt a new mindset. While it can be difficult to go about things in a different way, the rewards potentially outweigh the risks. And this, my friends, is a lesson that has been reinforced this year. I’m still waiting for the rewards, but I know that my change in approach will pay off!