Kelly

I first stepped into the cold bay on winter solstice of 2022. I finished cancer treatment in the spring of that year and the word aliveness kept flaring up in my mind. I craved things and people that made me feel alive. I was terrified and thrilled on that December day as I gathered my towel, warm layers and a thermos of tea. I hired a babysitter for my daughter and was cagey about what I was doing because I didn’t want anyone to know if I chickened out. 

I did not chicken out. 

I stepped into the that cold wintery water and there was a churning, an exhilaration, a thrill, a dare. It remains all of those things. The cycle of holy shit, I can’t do this. I am doing this. I am okay becomes a fortifying loop. I crave the cold water reminder and how it reinforces that loop in other parts of my life. 

I sought aliveness and it delivers, every time. My name is Kelly Wilkinson. I first stepped into the cold bay on winter solstice of 2022. I finished cancer treatment in the spring of that year and the word aliveness kept flaring up in my mind. I craved things and people that made me feel alive. I was terrified and thrilled on that December day as I gathered my towel, warm layers and a thermos of tea. I hired a babysitter for my daughter and was cagey about what I was doing because I didn’t want anyone to know if I chickened out. 

I did not chicken out. 

I stepped into the that cold wintery water and there was a churning, an exhilaration, a thrill, a dare. It remains all of those things. The cycle of holy shit, I can’t do this. I am doing this. I am okay becomes a fortifying loop. I crave the cold water reminder and how it reinforces that loop in other parts of my life. 

I sought aliveness and it delivers, every time.