I appreciate given the current constant presence of rain, either actual or pending the idea of puddles may well have you recoiling from this piece

However, if you can, bear with me and a rainbow might just appear at the end of it.  Whilst walking in the park recently, the weather neither bothers nor deters my two hounds; I came across a parent berating his very small child for deliberately walking through puddles thus making his shoes and trousers very wet.  I watched as the adult tried to reason with the puddle fixated child.  I was entranced with the way this child contemplated the size of the puddle, the ripples on the surface, not knowing how deep it would go, for all he knew it might even transport him to Alice’s Wonderland.  And then I watched the fraught father angered at the practical implications of a child with wet feet and I thought how sad not to see the wonder in this child’s eyes, all he saw was disobedient behaviour.

Not long after I watched a very different scenario, two little girls  head to toe in waterproofs worthy of a deep sea trawler, wading confidently through the wettest and boggiest parts of the park, exploring the depth, getting their feet stuck and more importantly working out how to get out.  Their father meanwhile remained on his phone, whilst he had practically facilitated their adventures into the boggy and wet unknown he too had been too distracted to join in their wonderful adventure.

These two incidents got me thinking, how often we as individuals fail to step into things when we are not sure of the outcome or worse still we pre-empt the inevitable problems before they’ve actually had time to appear.  In a world of ‘Don’t touch’ ‘No photos’ ‘Don’t walk on the grass’ and most importantly ‘Don’t make a fool of yourself’ and ‘Don’t fail’ do we miss the potential joy of doing something uncharacteristic and new.  And so on my next walk I waded through every puddle I could find, I watched as people balanced, tip toed and teetered (particularly the heroic boyfriend carrying his girlfriend around the lake sized puddles) whilst I swished, stamped and yes jumped in them, much to the amusement of my rescue Retriever, who is old enough to know better, young enough not to care thus he waded too.  My other dog, a young, large mutt mix merely watched with bewilderment at his owner’s madness.  Needless to say we got wet, we got muddy, my wellingtons will not last another winter, however, we did not get Pneumonia or develop blisters or pick up some terrible disease from the water we just hosed down and had a biscuit to reward our adventures.  And so if there’s something you are desperate to do, start wind sailing, become a racing car driver, take up Pilates, what are you waiting for? 

The Sunshine will return and perhaps the odd rainbow or two but in the meantime enjoy each and every puddle that the rain brings you

Suzy Mitchell is the founder of Seraphina Pilates