A DIP IN THE SEA

海中游泳的快樂

By Amy Liptrot

艾米·利托特

A few years ago, after I got out of rehab for treatment of alcohol addiction, I returned from London to the Orkney islands, where I grew up.

幾年前，我結束了酒癮的康復治療，從倫敦回到了我長大的地方——奧克尼群島。

I was newly sober, unemployed and fragile. Back home, I joined an eccentric group of mostly women, the Orkney Polar Bear Club, who, each Saturday morning year-round, swim in the sea at different spots on the island coastline. We decide our location the night before, using analysis of the wind direction and height of tide. We swim at beaches, in rockpools, down rusty ladders from piers and out around shipwrecks.

我的頭腦才剛剛恢復清醒，所以我沒有工作，身心也很脆弱。回到家后，我加入了奧克尼北極熊俱樂部，那是一個新奇的組織，成員多是女性。成員一年四季每個星期六早上都會去島周圍的海里游泳，每次去的都是不同的地方。我們會在出發前一天晚上分析風向和潮汐，然后決定游泳地點。我們會去海灘，去巖石圍住的海域，爬下碼頭生銹的梯子，游到沉船的殘骸周圍。

The water is always bracingly cold - from 13c at the height of summer, to an icy 3c - and I wear just a swimsuit (albeit with neoprene boots and gloves, and usually a woolly hat). I don’t stay in for long, but it’s enough.

水總是有點冷，夏天最熱的時候有13度，最冷的時候只有3度，這能讓人十分精神，而我只穿一件泳衣(雖然還帶有橡膠靴子和手套，通常我還會戴一頂羊毛帽)。我不會游很久，但那也足夠了。

With seaweed and the Atlantic on my skin, up close to anemones and limpets, I am alive. I always feel more awake when I get out, my skin and my brain tingling, with the fresh perspective you get from being at duck level.

海草和大西洋的海水觸碰著我的肌膚，海葵和帽貝就在我的旁邊，我真切地感到自己活著。每當我從水下回到水面的時候，我的皮膚和腦袋都會有刺痛的感覺，這時在水面看著遠方清新的景色，我會覺得更加清醒，

I also swam alone during the two winters I spent on the tiny island of Papay, the most north-westerly of the Orkneys. Sometimes I swam naked and felt like the selkies of Scottish folklore: magical beings who live as seals in the sea, then shed their skins to become human on land.

我在奧克尼最西北部的帕佩小島上待過兩個冬天，期間我一直獨自游泳。有時候我會一件衣服都不穿，感覺自己就像蘇格蘭傳說中擁有魔力的精靈一樣：在海里是海豹，到了岸上褪下外皮就會變成人。

In a way I was performing my version of the cold water baths historically used in the treatment of alcoholics. I was adjusting to a sober life and finding new ways to enjoy myself.

冷水浴在歷史上曾被用來治療酒癮。在某種意義上來說，我的冷水浴也是一種治療。我正在適應清醒的生活，尋找新方法去享受自我。

Now, the wild swims function for me in several of the same ways as alcohol used to.

現在這種狂野的游泳已經代替了酒精，在我身上發揮了一些很好的功效。

First, they provide a buzz: the ’cold water high’. Second, they’re an effective method of stress relief. The cold ocean blasts away anxiety.

首先，游泳會讓我興奮——冷水引起的興奮。第二，游泳能有效地減輕壓力，寒冷的海水會沖走焦慮。

My focus is simply on not drowning, and when I clamber back on to the beach, I feel almost reborn and my worries are smaller.

我的注意力只需放在保持身體不下沉上，而當我爬上岸的時候，我便感到重獲新生，我的憂慮也會變少。

I also use the swims to celebrate the changing seasons. On the spring solstice, I will have been sober for five years and I plan to celebrate, with joy and gratitude, in cold water.

每到換季，我都會去游泳慶祝一下。等到下一個春天來臨的時候，我就已經保持清醒五年了。到時候我會懷著喜悅和感激，到冷水中去慶祝。