Seek seasonal ritual

As the days grow shorter and winter closes in, could a simple swimming ritual help us embrace the season rather than retreat from it? From candlelit dips to noticing the changing light, discover how small, deliberate habits can reconnect us with the outdoors.

This month the clocks fall back and with it, our moods can dip and the playful creativity we get in warmer, lighter seasons can be lost in the dark. I am guilty of losing my spark at this time of year and so this winter, inspired by a trip to Sweden, I am going to try to embrace the season rather than hide away from it. One of the ways to do this is to seek rituals. This can be as simple as a lit candle before a dawn dip or a deliberate pause to notice while sipping from a hot flask.

It can also be a swim itself, for many years, I embraced a Dip a Day December routine, which (while difficult on some days) always brought more to my life than it took. Whatever you choose to do, it can change how autumn and winter feel. So rather than feeling like winter is something that is happening to us, something we cannot control, a deliberate act or ritual can help us to feel intentional about our connection to the seasons and draw us outside.

Our Nordic neighbours are ahead of us with this. In Norway, there’s a word, friluftsliv, which roughly translates as ‘open air life’. It isn’t about extreme weather or endurance, it’s actually much simpler – whatever the season throws at you, life is best lived outside. Finland and Sweden use candlelight deliberately when the sun drops below the horizon. Estonians switch from bog swims to blades, ice skating across the wetlands.

I think the UK is in for a damp, grey winter. It isn’t as easy to be outdoors when you don’t have the bright light from snow and ice, but perhaps we can still find solace in the soggy. After such a hot, dry summer, many of us turned our faces to the sky to feel the rain when it finally fell, so how can we turn ourselves around this season? What small, repeatable thing can you do on purpose to welcome in winter?

When swimming this month, instead of a longer or colder one, make it a ritual one. Something you do the same way from the clocks switch that by the time midwinter arrives in December it isn’t willpower getting you out the door, it is habit.

Could your swim this month involve:

• A small lit ritual either side of it – a candle, a lantern, a new hot tea – something that marks the start and the end of the swim as deliberately as the swim itself?
• Timing a swim from the point where the light runs out or begins. Notice the light coming up or feel the dark arrive instead of dodging it?

Top tips:

• If you’re swimming into the dark, visibility is essential. Use a tow float with a light to illuminate your exit. Sunset moves by several minutes most days in October, faster than any other point in the year.
• Keep whatever marks the start of your ritual simple and windproof. A storm lantern or a wind-proof candle holder will survive a riverbank far better than an open flame.
• Tell someone your rough swim window if you’re going out at dusk or after dark and carry a torch even if you don’t think you’ll need it.