I started swimming in 2015 because I couldn’t run for months on end and aqua jogging was making me crazy. I started calling it “being a mermaid” because I needed to reframe it in my mind as something whimsical instead of some kind of punishment. 🧜🏻‍♀️ Over the years I’ve often used mermaiding as a tool both during times of injury and even when I’m healthy. Now I’m pretty confident in the water and love that I have another activity that I can do my whole life. And I know that I never would have learned how to swim if it wasn’t for that injury in 2015. At the Olympic Trials in 2016 everyone knew that I had been injured a lot of that year and had been swimming and doing a lot of cross training. When I crossed the line and made the Olympic team the announcers said “she calls herself a mermaid and now she’s splashing her way to Rio!” 😂 If you’re interested in getting started with your own merperson journey, I have a few articles on my website about how to get your splash on! 🧜🏻‍♀️ 🧜...