November 24th - Being Brave

    Being Brave is such a hard thing to do, its not that often we have to really be properly brave, I mean yes you may have the odd time where you ride a roller coaster or maybe you have to go to the dentist for a filling, but these are not every day events and yet I think that doing scary things and pushing yourself is such an essential part of life. 

    I have had to be brave a few times recently for various reasons, firstly I was nervous about asking my 2 running mates whether they would mind me running shirtless through winter, of course they didn't mind and why would they? I knew they would be totally fine about it but having the confidence to ask them was quite a challenge itself, I then had to be brave when I actually had to go through with taking a shirtless run with them, I mean I have run a lot without a shirt on in the past however usually on my own and often I head out under cover of darkness when it is quiet. 

    Today I found myself having to be brave again, I wanted to tell my swimming friend Ann about my passion for being shirt free. I knew 100% that she would be ok about it, of course she would be ok, I could tell her I caused the stock market crash of 1929 and she would just shrug it off and not be bothered. Of course most friends don't give a dam what I wear but I am finding it kind of important and I want people to know. In my head it would make life easier for me if they knew about it and then I don't have to think about going shirt free, I can just get on with it and not worry about what my friends think.

    I met Ann this morning for a swim and I was going to try and tell her but there were a few other important things to chat about first. Then after the swim in the sea we walked up the beach and the conversation almost naturally headed the right way for me to explain my 30 year long passion to her. Of course she was cool with it and of course she understood it and I knew she would because she is such a good friend. 

    So that's it, job done, not only am I happy having had my morning swim I am also happy that my friends are cool with me not wearing a shirt.

    Of course now I have that problem of trying to pluck up the courage to go through with going shirt free, I already swim with Ann 3 times a week so the next challenge is to drive down to the beach without a top and see how that goes. I also have a Sunday morning shirtless run to work up to. 

    Its funny how there are things which some people would see as such minor issues and yet for me they are such major things to talk about, I feel like I am almost coming out again. 

    For more information about why I like to go shirt free check out this short series of blog posts - https://adventuresinfeelingalive.blogspot.com/2021/11/beginning-to-feel-alive-part-1.html