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

W hen I was 17, my rowing 5️⃣ coach announced that taking a day off was unnecessary. That one time of the week that I left school at 5️⃣ 4pm and watched Neighbours was now gone. I think that's probably why, when I gave up rowing, I stopped doing any exercise 5️⃣ at all. I'd had enough. Exercise for me equated to diehard commitment and someone shouting at me all the time. 5️⃣ So I did nothing. Which in retrospect was a bad idea, because there were times in my life – getting 5️⃣ RSI when I tried to write a book while holding down a full-time job or having a baby and getting 5️⃣ swamped by anxiety – when exercise would have helped enormously.

De volta à equipe

It was when I had come out of 5️⃣ the baby years, moved to a new area, but worked from home, that I felt the pull to be part 5️⃣ of a team again. But I didn't know how or in what sport – there was no way I was 5️⃣ going back to rowing.

There are plenty of "back to..." sessions for various sports – hockey, football, lacrosse – but having 5️⃣ never played any of these, I was daunted. Then one day a neighbour knocked looking for a sub for her 5️⃣ netball league team. I'd been OK at netball at school, so I said I'd do it. It was during that 5️⃣ game I realised all the latent competitiveness that had pushed me at school to become a junior world rowing champion, 5️⃣ was still very much there. And when I got rid of it, through sport, it took the pressure off other 5️⃣ 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 5️⃣ not the cliché of school sporting types – these adult teams are made up of strong, determined women of varying 5️⃣ ages, shapes, sizes and fitness who are there simply to compete in a game they love with people they respect. 5️⃣ It's something I thought I would never do again and in the grand scheme of things it's a very small 5️⃣ change – less than an hour a week – but it has categorically improved my life, perhaps even built up 5️⃣ my inner strength.

O jogo como fuga do stress

On top of that, there was the actual physical release of the exercise, 5️⃣ burning through the adrenaline of the shock and dispelling the cortisol from the stress. By the end of the game, 5️⃣ I was still gutted, but I had some perspective. I can't say whether I was more resilient than if I 5️⃣ hadn't taken up netball. But what I can say is that the game itself, and the act of playing in 5️⃣ that team, allowed me to escape the realities of life for enough time that I could calm down and rationalise, 5️⃣ so what felt devastating before was less so after. Which I suppose is exactly what emotional resilience means.