Aos 17, o treinador de remo anunciou que um dia de descanso era inútil

W hen I was 17, my rowing 8️⃣ coach announced that taking a day off was unnecessary. That one time of the week that I left school at 8️⃣ 4pm and watched Neighbours was now gone. I think that's probably why, when I gave up rowing, I stopped doing any exercise 8️⃣ at all. I'd had enough. Exercise for me equated to diehard commitment and someone shouting at me all the time. 8️⃣ So I did nothing. Which in retrospect was a bad idea, because there were times in my life – getting 8️⃣ RSI when I tried to write a book while holding down a full-time job or having a baby and getting 8️⃣ swamped by anxiety – when exercise would have helped enormously.

De volta à equipe

It was when I had come out of 8️⃣ the baby years, moved to a new area, but worked from home, that I felt the pull to be part 8️⃣ of a team again. But I didn't know how or in what sport – there was no way I was 8️⃣ going back to rowing.

There are plenty of "back to..." sessions for various sports – hockey, football, lacrosse – but having 8️⃣ never played any of these, I was daunted. Then one day a neighbour knocked looking for a sub for her 8️⃣ netball league team. I'd been OK at netball at school, so I said I'd do it. It was during that 8️⃣ game I realised all the latent competitiveness that had pushed me at school to become a junior world rowing champion, 8️⃣ was still very much there. And when I got rid of it, through sport, it took the pressure off other 8️⃣ areas of my life.

Amizades na equipe

Friendships on the team differ, we don't know each other's backstories

O valor da competição

This is 8️⃣ not the cliché of school sporting types – these adult teams are made up of strong, determined women of varying 8️⃣ ages, shapes, sizes and fitness who are there simply to compete in a game they love with people they respect. 8️⃣ It's something I thought I would never do again and in the grand scheme of things it's a very small 8️⃣ change – less than an hour a week – but it has categorically improved my life, perhaps even built up 8️⃣ my inner strength.

O jogo como fuga do stress

On top of that, there was the actual physical release of the exercise, 8️⃣ burning through the adrenaline of the shock and dispelling the cortisol from the stress. By the end of the game, 8️⃣ I was still gutted, but I had some perspective. I can't say whether I was more resilient than if I 8️⃣ hadn't taken up netball. But what I can say is that the game itself, and the act of playing in 8️⃣ that team, allowed me to escape the realities of life for enough time that I could calm down and rationalise, 8️⃣ so what felt devastating before was less so after. Which I suppose is exactly what emotional resilience means.