Hi friend,

one week from today, I start.

36 kilometers across Lake Lucerne. Küssnacht to Flüelen. Solo, no wetsuit, no sleep (fine, it's not a 24h swim, but it sounds hard), no touching land, from the first stroke to the last. Around 12 hours in the water. Lake five of the Alpine Seven. Every kilometer for NF Kinder.

The forecast right now is cold, with almost no wind. In open water, wind is what ends a swim before it begins. So as of today, it is a go.

The distance still scares me - 36km in swimming is comparable to 144km of running. But now I know how to break a swim like that into pieces, and take them one at a time. The cold I can prepare for (eg. eating more chocolate). The shoulder is the one I cannot talk my way out of. It has hurt for weeks, and I cannot promise it will hold for 12 hours.

Ok, thanks for the input.

That fear sat in my stomach for the last couple of days. So I did the one thing I have learned to do with a fear like this. I talked about it. I posted about the shoulder, publicly on LinkedIn, the plain truth of it.

And people showed up.

​Shannon, a swim coach and amazing podcast host, saw the post. She wrote to me: send me a video, I will take a look. She has already sent tips that are super helping. A week before my crossing, in my corner now, because I admitted out loud that I was struggling. How cool is that!

This is the pattern of my whole life, and I have stopped being surprised by it. Fear grows in the dark. The moment you say it out loud, it shrinks. And people you never expected step into your corner. Somewhere along the way it became a belief I live by. Say the hard thing out loud, and the right people appear.

I cannot control the cold. I cannot promise my shoulder will hold. That is the 95%. Whether I carry the fear alone, or say it out loud and let people in, is the part that is mine. That is the 5%. And it changes how I walk to the water.

This week’s experiment: say the one you have been holding in.

You have a fear you have not said out loud. The appointment you keep not booking. The conversation you keep rehearsing in your head. The doubt about the big decision.

Pick one. Say it to one person this week, in plain words.

Watch it get smaller. Watch who steps in.

One week from today, I get in at Küssnacht before sunrise. You can follow the boat live, kilometer by kilometer: Live tracker. We will also do a YouTube livestream for the whole duration and my team will go live every hour on Instagram. Links are below.

If the shoulder holds, you will see it. If it does not, you will see that too. Either way, I am not swimming it alone. I made sure of that by saying so out loud.

You cannot always choose the water. But you do not have to face it in silence.

Let´s make 5% your 100%

Bernhard

Livestreams:

• Livestream on Youtube​
• Livestream on Instagram
• ​Livetracker of the boat​

P.S. The crossing is Saturday the 12th, from 5am. Follow it live. Every kilometer is for the kids at NF Kinder.

P.P.S. Hit reply and tell me the fear you are saying out loud this week. I read every one. And this week, I could use the company.

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