Try a new sport (like rock climbing or paddleboarding).

“For me personally, I’ll always remember my first SUP experience fondly. The wobbly legs, sore feet, sore arms, and discovering core muscles that had never been used before. That first fall into the water that we all dread, but know will inevitably come to all of us! The feel of the board on your bare feet. Hearing the water lap at the rails and the gentle splash as your paddle enters the water surface. Holding your breath without realising it because you’re concentrating so hard, only to breathe in at the wrong time as you topple off and inhale water. I remember the weather warming my skin, the smell of neoprene and suncream mixed with the aroma of dank water and pondweed.”

“After our safety briefing and warm-up stretching exercises, we all took to the water, first staying close to the shoreline in a sheltered bay. After an hour or so, my confidence was growing as I started to get the hang of it. We had mastered the art of getting on the board from in the ocean and had learnt some of the paddle techniques. We had mainly been paddling from the kneeling position on the board and I had managed to stay high and dry. We then started going out further along the bay and I felt confident in what I had achieved so far. [...] I misjudged my actions. I had ventured to a point in the ocean that was over three metres deep, and then, SPLASH, I went under. At first, I thought, "No big deal," I automatically remembered what we had been shown. My first attempt to get back on the board wasn’t successful [...] Suddenly, I started to panic.”

“Finally, I’m ready to learn the basics of SUP! Undeterred by the strong currents, I struggled to stay on the board. I ended up tired but was able to kneel and paddle my first strokes. It was overall a great experience, but I wanted to add the icing on the cake. I wanted to stand up. My instructor was very patient, he was there all along trying to teach me how to stand. His instructions were clear, place the paddle on the stand-up paddleboard and look on the horizon and try to stand up. I rehearsed for a couple of seconds and finally took the courage to do the challenging task. The instructions were quite easy to understand, but I’m 5’11 and 202 pounds, obviously on the heavy side. At first, I was able to stand for a few seconds, but I did not last long. Disappointed and exhausted [...] I was defeated, but unbowed. I finally had the chance to try something different.”