Storytelling July

My story starts in 2022 with Avatar 2.

All my stories are going to start this way until Hinge gets interesting and I can start sharing stories from that dating app.

The only reason I got on there was to be able to share new stories with my co-workers so that they stop talking about my last lame dating story from 3 months ago.

That was even going to be my bio: here to create new stories to share with my co-workers.

I’m still tempted.

Why can’t I tell a story about Hinge, you might ask? Because they don’t have a middle or an end. Sometimes not even a beginning. Because this is Switzerland the neutral land. And when everything is neutral, nothing is happening. Although it is coming I can feel it. So maybe next month I’ll be able to share Hinge stories. I’ll call them the ‘Hinge Chronicles’. That’s what I told my very first date actually - with whom I had a very good time but he is Swiss so I have no idea if he actually likes me - I said: you know if I have a bad date, it’s just material for me. Now that I say it out loud, it might be why he hasn’t contacted me for a second date. He probably doesn’t want to be in the Chronicles. Fair enough, I’ll keep it to myself next time but I’ll definitely write about ‘him’ when I get home.

So until I get a ‘middle’ AT LEAST, I’ll start with Avatar 2.

What happened in Avatar 2?!

Awww I know Hinge was so much more fun! Come back next month, you’ll hear all about it!

If you were here last time, you heard about the Whale story that also started with that movie, if you haven’t heard it, don’t worry, I’ll tell it again in between Chronicles.

If you are an artsy/hipster crowd you haven’t watched it cause it’s too mainstream, whatever. I’m also alternative okay?! But I have mainstream tendencies.

In movie number 2, the Blue People are at the Ocean, they spend all their time in the water and one of the characters connects with a Whale. To be able to do so, he learns how to freedive cause he has to stay underwater for a long time.

I was so amazed by that scene that I wanted to learn how to freedive too so I could do the same thing: connect with a Whale.

Spoiler: I ended up not connecting with anything because I needed to connect to myself first and foremost.

But back in 2023 I didn’t know that, so I still wanted to learn how to free dive!

So before I went swimming with Whales in French Polynesia the year after watching the movie, I went to Greece and took part in a Yoga & Freediving Retreat a friend of mine was organising.

BTW does everybody know what freediving is?

Let me explain quickly. It’s basically: not breathing underwater. They invented oxygen bottles but nooo I had to learn new hardcore skills!

Actually fun fact: if you want to swim with Whales you can’t do it with bottles because the bubbles coming out of them will make them angry. They will mistaken them for aggressive behaviour.

That’s right, tonight you don’t just get entertained, you also learn something about Marine life. Isn’t this show amazing?!

Back to Greece and the retreat. The place is stunning, beautiful resort, amazing food, amazing view, Yoga everyday. My tactic is: get all the comfort on land so I can get out of my comfort zone in the water. It might not make sense for everyone but to me it does.

So we all go to the local diving centre and register for level 1, the basic course of this realm.

Level 1 is making it to 10 meters and doing a rescue dive at 10 meters to be able to pass.

So for those who don’t have a visual of what the course is about: the instructor puts a buye in the water with a rope that goes down vertically that you have to follow head first. Either by pulling yourself down or finning or breast strokes or monopalm mermaid style.

The first couple of days of the course are easy, we learn about black outs, what can happen if you hold your breath a bit too long > you loose consciousness. No big deal.

We learn how to breathe to be able to hold our breath and all these sort of things.

Easy. Kinda.

Then comes day 3 and it’s time to go down that rope vertically.

I want to cry on the boat already.

So here we all are, around that stupid buye relaxing, breathing whatever. Everybody is going down those 10 meters so easily. Those 10 meters look soooo deep to me. My mind is like: what?! You want us to do what?! Go into the depth of the Sea head first?! We are no mermaid okay?! I know you wish we were but we are not!

I feel like my head is going to explode. I can’t equalise. Holding my breath is soooo uncomfortable. I just can’t do it.

Everybody else completed the course except me. I couldn’t get past 5 meters. And I accepted it, i was disappointed but I accepted my failure. At least I tried.

But then someone in our group thought it would be a great idea to book an extra day because we still had some time on the island.

And I was like: no I am good, I failed and it’s okay I’ll just go to a Cafe and write with a Sea view and do something I actually enjoy on my last day.

But the teacher said: it’s all in your head Ophelie, just do it.

And I was like: mmh this could be true actually, I’ve seen that happen before. It’s called Resistance. I work with Resistance a lot with my clients and my creative projects.

And so I knew my body was actually able to do it but Resistance was showing up as discomfort in my right ear and in not being able to equalise.

So I did the extra day and had a teacher just for myself, a cute frenchie, who saw that I was rebelling against that poor rope and thought it would be a good idea to let go of the rope for a moment. He pointed at something on the ground and said: ‘do you see that white thing down there?! Let’s go get it’.

So i don’t know if it was the fact that I had a task or that I was allowed to swim in a diagonal - which made way more sense - or the fact that the cute French instructor was swimming next to me but when we went back to the rope I made it to 10 meters no problem and even rescued him from 10 meters!

Success! I completed my level 1! I was super proud and had all my friends cheer for me. It was amazing!

So that whole story was back in 2023 and today I actually just got back from a week of freediving in Greece. Same island, same hotel. Not the same teacher unfortunately! This year was only girl instructors. So boring! Jk it was amazing!

It’s still challenging but over time I fell in love with the practice.

It’s the only thing I do in life that makes me focus on the present moment. You kind of have to or you might die.

It makes me present, it makes me face my fears and makes me notice all my patterns. And it makes me a bit less OCD and ADHD and it allows me to connect with incredible people. All of that in the beautiful crystal clear water of the Cyclades.

It made me realise that sometimes we’ll find something that will bring the deepest meaning into our lives just because we got inspired by a moment.

Thanks for listening to my ted talk!