Simona Pascu

12 Dips in December – Dip #7 Done! 🌊

Friday 19th Dec What an amazing day for a dip!! Enjoyed every minute of it! Share

12 Dips in December – Dip #6 Done!

Thursday 18th Dec 🌊 12 Sea Dips Challenge – Update 🌊 I’m halfway there! ✅ 6 sea dips completed ⏳ 6 more to go I’m hoping to do my final dip on Christmas Day, although I can’t promise it as time is quite limited during this period. I chose to take on this challenge in support of the Irish Heart Foundation for a very personal reason. I lost my father to a heart attack, and my uncle has also had heart problems. Sadly, many members of my family suffer from heart-related conditions. This challange it means a lot to me to know that I’m doing something to support the fight against heart disease and to help other families going through similar experiences. Share

12 Dips in December – Dip #5 Done!

Wednesday 17th Dec Share

12 Dips in December – Dip #4 Done!

Monday 15th Dec Lunch break: perfect for my 4th dip! Today my friend Ann joined me at the beach and I hope in the future she will join me in the water as well:) 8 left😍 Share

12 Dips in December – Dip #3 Done!

Sunday 14th Dec I braved the sea at Balbriggan Beach today for my 3rd dip of December in support of the Irish Heart Foundation 💙 I’ll be honest — I’m a little behind after a busy and challenging week, but I’m getting back on track. I’m planning to make up for it with five dips in a row next week, so plenty of cold water and determination ahead! ❄️💪 The water was absolutely amazing today, and I felt so good afterwards — there’s nothing like a sea dip to clear the head and lift the heart. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far. Your support really means the world to me and keeps me going into that cold water! 💙 If you’d like to support or share, I’d be so grateful. Every donation helps the incredible work of the Irish Heart Foundation ❤️ Share

Tinnaberna Beach

Saturday 6th Dec Share

Dip 2-Tinnaberna Beach,

Saturday 6th Dec Over visiting  friends for the weekend, I take advantage of being close to the beach and I had a dip with my friend Collette!  Share

Dip 1: When the sea becomes courage -

Tuesday 2nd Dec

If someone had told me five years ago that I would be swimming in the sea in Ireland during winter, I would have probably laughed until I cried and asked if they were okay or needed medication. Me? Ocean swimming in December? No way. I only imagined cold, biting waves, and a firm "no" coming from every fiber of my body. In my early years here, when I saw those who ventured into the water during the colder months, I looked at them with a combination of amazement and bewilderment. They seemed to be from another world. "What’s going through their minds?" I’d wonder. "Don’t they feel the cold? Are they crazy?" And, secretly, I also wondered why they had so much light in their eyes when they came out of the water. I didn’t understand. I didn’t know. I couldn’t dare to imagine that one day I would feel that too. But great things never arrive with a fanfare. They come slowly, on tiptoe, like small changes that you don't even notice at first. That’s how my first entry into the cold water came about: a mixture of curiosity, fear, and an inner impulse that’s hard to explain, as if the sea was calling my name. From that moment, a new world opened up for me. Today, I am in my second year of not stopping at the threshold of the seasons. I don’t let temperature, wind, the calendar, or even the fear of sometimes going in alone hold me back. A kind of silent pact has been created between me and the ocean—a pact of truth. In the cold water, you can’t lie. You can’t run away from yourself. You can’t hide what you feel. Everything falls away, like a wave that recedes, and only you remain: you, with your breath, your body, and a strength you didn’t even know you had. There, in the cold that bites your skin, I discovered a different kind of courage—stable and deep. It’s a courage that doesn’t scream, but whispers: “You can. Continue. Have faith.” It wasn’t the swimming itself that changed my life, but the way I viewed myself after each time I entered the water. It’s amazing how a few minutes in the ocean can turn your world upside down. They wake you up, cleanse you, and rearrange your thoughts. It’s as if the sea says to you every time: "Leave everything that weighs you down here. Take with you only what makes you light." In the cold water, I learned that fear doesn’t disappear, but it becomes manageable. I learned that I can trust myself even when I’m shaking. Stillness is not a place; it’s a state you can create amid chaos. Sometimes, you just have to step forward, even when every cell in you says “no.” Most importantly, I learned that I am alive. Maybe that’s why I enter the ocean in winter—not to test myself, not to appear brave, but to remind myself who I am when I strip away all the world’s noise. The sea has an incredible way of bringing you back to yourself. It takes everything from you and returns only the essential. That feeling resonates in every fiber of my being. Perhaps that’s the real magic—not the cold water, not the courage, not the adrenaline, but the way, for a few moments, you return to your primary sincerity and unvarnished essence. The sea reminds you that you are composed of the same force as the waves—that you can crash, you can fall, and you can rise again. When I emerge from the ocean in mid-winter, with my skin burning and my heart beating like an old drum, I feel as if I carry a piece of infinity inside me. Each wave feels like it has rewritten me. The whole world goes silent for a second, and only the truth remains. And the truth is this: it wasn’t the water that changed me, but the courage to step into it. To say “yes” where I had spent years saying “no.” To take my own destiny by the hand, even while trembling, and to move forward. In the cold that both cuts and heals, I learned the most important lesson: When you enter the sea in winter, you are not just trying to survive the cold. You are trying to find yourself. And each time, you do. The only thing you need is the willingness to seek it.

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