Yesterday I went down the 500 stairs from Wreck Beach, discouraged by what I witnessed around me: dozens of people, all dressed in thick coats and many of them holding cameras.

A few weeks ago, I got the idea to start the New Year with a polar bear dip. But since I already did 3 of those at Vancouver’s English bay, I wanted to add more madness to the event and do one at Wreck Beach. Naked.

You might think: what, why?! Are you crazy?!

Naked New Year polar bear dive

If you’ve been following me online, you know there’s not a single photograph of me in a bikini anywhere to be found on the internet. Which gives you an indication of how comfy I am with the world seeing my body. 😉 Yet when this New Year’s idea popped into my mind, I knew I just wanted to do it. I love the symbolism of starting a new year with something nuts, so why not! I wanted to break out of my comfort zone and celebrate vulnerability.

So there I went, down the stairs, playing worst case scenarios in my mind: what if random strangers take photographs of me or what if I post this madness online and people think it’s stupid and unprofessional or…  All of these thoughts had to do with my fear of being judged.

When I ended up at the beach, still discouraged, I witnessed two girls running in the ocean hand in hand, without clothes, while screaming (it was 1 degree Celsius) and laughing. No tourist was taking their photos, nobody was looking at them in disapproval. All I thought was: Yes!!! You go guys!

So off I went and after blurring out a New Year’s message, I ran into the ocean, filmed by Jelger’s iPhone (Jelger hates cold water). It was liberating and very symbolic. 🙂

Thank you Jelger for putting up with my madness and encouraging me to follow my wild ideas.