The Year I Lay My Head in Water: Swimming Scandinavia in Search of a Better Life

Laying your head in water is what you do when you’re having a bad day. The water is where you go when you need time to think. It’s where you go when you reach a crossroads in your life.

Living in Copenhagen had been a dream for Laura Hall and it was working out – until it wasn’t. She discovered that the trials of life will follow you anywhere, as she felt herself disintegrating into stress and burn out. She was unmoored and unsure of how to find her place in the world.

What followed was a year swimming the cold seas of Scandinavia in search of answers and meaning. She swam in iceberg-filled seas in Greenland, visited Viking spas in Iceland, and beaches and piers all over Norway, Denmark and Sweden. During this year of discovery, Laura met other people doing the same thing and swapped notes, discovering ways to use the water to strengthen a bond with nature and get back to a more human way of life.

A love letter to the sea and the people of Scandinavia, this book is also a clarion call for anybody stuck in a rut who needs to rekindle their lust for life. It’s time to reconnect with the natural world. It’s time to lay your head in the water.

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