Last summer, my friend Haley and I were in practice talking about things we did to make swimming more fun. We were also talking about the ways we try to make ourselves feel "prettier" in a sport where you end up looking like a wet cat by day 2 of a 5-day meet.
In previous meets, we had put on super minimal makeup in order to help us feel like real people while we were basically dying. Haley mentioned how she used to wear winged eyeliner in high school for her meets because it made her feel fiercer than everyone else, while I would put on some eyebrows and mascara to show regardless of the chlorine, I do indeed still have eyebrows!
We decided we wanted to get back into wearing makeup to meets. Haley, huge makeup guru she is, got to thinking about finding a good waterproof eyeliner to test out before the season started. Of course, we had to find a way to add a little glitter to the mix!
We began wearing glittery eyeliner to meets and it quickly became our team's "thing."
Our teammates loved the idea and soon, glittery eyeliner was everywhere. Whether it was while swimming or after sessions, everyone wanted to try the glittery wing to feel fierce, and maybe a little badass, while competing.
At first, other teams were super judgemental about us all putting on makeup in the locker room before the meet, rather than doing something "productive" and getting ready to swim our races. Little did they know, this was as much preparation as rolling out our bodies or stretching before warm-up.
There was this huge overlooked fact of "look good, feel better."
This became something I prided myself on doing before and during meets.
Towards the end of meets, people saw a difference in the way we were swimming compared to other teams, just because of how we felt as we swam: pretty, glittery, and fun.
Yeah, the goggles we wear messed up the liner a bit (it would get everywhere on them), but it was totally worth it. By the end of the meet, the "shaming" we received at first turned into compliments and a fun new way to approach competing in the sport.
Swimming is known as a sport where you end up looking ROUGH by the end of it, there is no going around it. But your performance, regardless of circumstances, can be overcome by the mental aspect of how you can make yourself feel.
It's about the little things you do leading up to a competition, even if it's completely unrelated to swimming: face masks, makeup, jewelry, maybe even a tattoo! These things will improve what you are doing if you BELIEVE they help, and can have an impact on how you approach competing.
I can't imagine going back to competing without wearing makeup. It's something that helps me stand out and will only continue to support how I feel while walking up before my races.
