Niequist uses swimming as both a literal and a metaphorical practice — learning to move through water, and through life, with less thrashing and more grace.

Discussion Questions

6 questions

1.Niequist writes about learning to swim as an adult — humbling, slow, requiring submission to something you can't control. Have you had an experience of being a beginner at something as an adult? What did it feel like to not be competent?

2.She draws a parallel between swimming and moving through life — the way that fighting and thrashing keeps you afloat but exhausts you, while releasing and trusting the water allows you to move more efficiently. Where in your life are you thrashing when you could be trusting?

3.Swimming requires a particular kind of surrender — you cannot be tense and still move well. What are the specific fears or anxieties that make surrender difficult for you in your current season of life?

4.Niequist finds healing in physical movement and in being in water. What is your body's relationship to your emotional and spiritual life? Do you tend to pay attention to what your body is telling you, or do you ignore it?

5.She writes about how swimming made her feel like herself again — a self that had been buried under the weight of performance. Have you had an experience of doing something that made you feel like your truest self? What was it, and how long ago was it?

+ 3 more questions in this week

Get all 134 questions across 22 weeks

Get Full Guide — $24.99