big cold love
Three Decembers ago, in the murkiest bit of the pandemic, I stopped in the middle of my daily walk, stripped down, and ran into the ocean. The world was in flux, I was in flux. From my marriage and career, to our collective ability to gather, embrace, and be physically present for one another, everything had changed. I was craving solid ground and I found it in the open water.
My first dip was proof of life, proof of love, proof that I could resist the current and find my own way to flow in the water and the world beyond it. Standing on the beach afterwards, giddy, electrified, shivering, I felt like I’d fallen in love.
Libby DeLana is an award-winning executive creative director, designer-art director by trade, who has spent her career in the advertising world. The director of design at MullenLowe for 15 years, she went on to co-found the agency Mechanica. She is the co-host of This Morning Walk Podcast with Alex Elle and the author of "Do Walk: Navigate Earth, Mind and Body. Step by Step."
ADDITIONAL READING
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How cold water became my solid ground // NPR
In the fall of 2020, I was out for a walk on Plum Island with my pandemic ‘pod squad’: Cheryl, Beth, Will and my 24-year-old son Orren.
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Where (and how) to take a cold plunge // YOLO JOURNAL
I started getting in the cold water 3 years ago. It was the start of the pandemic and I’d become curious if it was possible to shift, even fundamentally change, one’s identity. I spent most of my life saying out loud “I hate the cold.” It was a deep-bone fear from age 13, when I went camping in the Adirondacks and shivered all night, too shy to ask for help..
