Lovin' Life

This morning I went to my first aquafit class ever. It was so much fun!

I've never considered myself much of a water person. Too many summers shivering my butt off as a kid, at the lake, suffering through swimming lessons, combined with body image issues and a skin condition has made it relatively uncomfortable for me in terms of getting into a bathing suit around a bunch of people I don't know.

For the last while I've been attempting to work past those issues, taking my girls to the public pool for swims. I'm getting more comfortable with my body and all of it's imperfections, over the years, and thankfully, the psoriasis is better than it has been in years and years.

Since I'm looking for new and fun ways to get some extra exercise, I went out on a limb this week and asked a couple of girlfriends if they would be interested in going to the morning aquafit class with me. They'd done it before, and jumped at the chance (as it turns out, only one of them was able to make it -- hopefully next time, Nicole!).

The class was full of elderly ladies (and one elderly gentleman), and my girlfriend and I. We were the youngest by at least 30 years. The ladies were great - looking around the locker room, I felt a new surge of body confidence. Not because I had the second youngest body in the room, but because if these ladies could be completely unashamed of themselves, at their age, with all of their imperfections, then what the hell did *I* have to worry about? Absolutely nothing!

The class itself was a lot of fun, very laid back. No pressure to perform (especially since no one could actually tell, if, under the water, I was messing up the steps, which on occasion, I certainly did). The instructor was enthusiastic, and it was fun being there with my girlfriend, who is a water person and loves being in the water.

The ladies had great energy, too. I only hope to be that energetic and interested in life at that age. I thought about how I'd been struggling so much with depression with the last while, and today really helped to renew my commitment to love life and enjoy myself. Because in another 30 years, I want to be one of those old ladies, staying active and loving life.

And the best time to start doing that is right now.