5 months from now, I’ll swim just over 5 miles, from one end of a lake to the other.

Right now, I find it incredibly hard to even swim half of that distance.

Oh, and I haven’t actually swum in anything other than a swimming pool.

I’m really fucking scared, you know. Of swimming in a lake.

I keep thinking about the things that might lurk below, like dead dogs, or worse, dead human bodies, or weird, slimy lake-animal type things that might bite me.

I don’t really know how lake swimming works, to be honest. I know I’ll need to eat in the 4 hours or more I’ll be in the water, and yet I don’t know what to eat because really, what do you eat while you’re swimming in a lake?

I also haven’t swum in a wetsuit yet. In fact, I haven’t even worn a proper wetsuit before, I don’t think.

I also don’t fully know how to train for a long distance swim. I keep Googling things, and then I get confused by all the swimming-lingo and click away.

The truth is, I don’t really know much about open water swimming at all.

And yet I will swim those 5 miles in September. Because I’ve learnt, through many, many lessons and over many, many years, that we humans have a brilliant knack of being able to figure stuff out along the way. Our brains and bodies are adaptable like that, and really, all it takes is effort, chip-chip-chip-away-at-it-consistency, discipline and most importantly…..

The GUTS to do it.

It ALL begins with having the GUTS.

If you don’t have the GUTS, you’ll spend your energy and time and thoughts making excuses instead. Excuses about not knowing how. Excuses about having to have it all figured out before you sign-up. Excuses about having to buy all the kit beforehand, or gain another qualification or have just one more certificate pinned to your wall before committing. Excuses about not totally understanding how it all works or how you’ll do it, so you can’t possibly sign up/start/say yes. Excuses about not knowing what you need to do to make it happen.

And yet….. having the GUTS is all you need.

The rest comes later.

The rest is figure-it-outable.