A river cuts through a rock not because of its strength but of its persistence

The way people think about swimming in rivers and lakes has changed over the years. In the old days, people tend to do this on a regular basis, but now barely no one does it anymore. Especially in England people don’t go swimming in lakes and rivers very often. It is surprising because it is such a nice way to refresh. The water might be a bit cool but feels thousand times better than any water in a swimming pool. It is strange that people feel uncomfortable in fresh, clear, natural water thinking it might be polluted, but on the other hand don’t think twice about bathing in chlorinated water which is probably quite bad for your skin. It is surprising why people pay more than 5 pounds here to swim in a swimming pool which is not really nice, but refuse to swim in lakes or rivers which is free and such a good experience as well. You feel so much more connected with nature, some ducks might pass you and you smell the grass and the plants. I do admit it can be hard to get yourself in the water because it is a bit cold, but once you are used to it, it is so much more enjoyable than swimming in a swimming pool. Especially the  people in the UK are obsessed with health and safety and so many lakes has been closed to the public and it is not allowed to swim in them anymore. Sometime the reasons are that they think the water might be not good for you or sailing clubs want to have the lake for themselves. I just can’t really understand why you can forbid people to swim in a lake where people swam in years and years before without any problem. I suppose if more people get into swimming outdoors, it would raise awareness of the environment and more people would understand why we have to save out nature from pollution and more people would find it outrageous why some companies can just put their rubbish and old oil in natural water. We don’t know when fresh water is going to be harder to get from the ground, so keeping our rivers and lakes clean should be a priority. I can just recommend anyone to go to their local river or lake and take a bath in it. I am lucky here that one of my relatives in London lives outside of the city right by the Thames. She is swimming in it for years, no matter what season of the year it is and people are so surprised why she would even do that. I joined her today in the early morning, the water was quite warm from the sun and it was a really good experience. It felt so refreshing and so peaceful and definitely woke me up. I can only encourage outdoor swimming. If you have the opportunity to live close to something like that take advantage of it. It is really lovely