How a scared girl ended up as an Icebather!

My name is Trine and I was born in Norway in the winter of 1962.

Aquarius is my sign and water is my favorite element.

I was the first child and my mom made all my clothes up till I started school. I loved to wear the dresses that she designed. If my parents couldn't find me they just had to look in the garden. I was sitting between the flowers and feeling in touch with nature. Preferably with a kitten in my lap.

I was a scared child. I would imagine all sorts of bad things happening and I got sick to my stomach from my thinking. I took years to realize that most days were good and that my imagination was not serving me at all.

At 17 I got totally fixed on America! Two years later I went on a big adventure to the United States. I met wonderful people, gained 10 kilos and came home after one year, feeling so strong and brave that I felt nothing could ever stop me.

I decided to become a goldsmith because I love to work with my hands and make nice things. No one in my family had ever gone in that direction, my family owned a soda factory. But I felt drawn to being creative and making wonderful jewellery.

After 3 years in school in Oslo I graduated as a goldsmith. There was no work for me in Lillesand so I started my own workshop. And from that day I was an entrepreneur. I have never been working for anyone else than myself.

Fast forward 30 years I had a lot of success with my brand Wilhelmine Smykker but I started to feel like doing more. I wanted to reach out and help people in different ways.

I moved my workshop from a safe location on the second floor in Strandgata 10 in Lillesand, to a wonderful location right on the street and on the dock in Strandgata 16 in the same town.

I made my own «retail-theatre», a word I picked up at a meeting several years earlier. I also decided to make «magic moments» the theme. And that's what Harald Fjeldal Kunstkolonial was all about from 2014 to 2020.

Back to the question  why Ice Bathing?

The boutique was only two meters from the ocean. Sometimes I would see ladies go bathing in the freezing winter ocean…even in an icehole they made with an axe! This was intriguing and I was convinced I would die if I did it.

More and more people started ice bathing and I was cheering for my friends, when suddenly I was invited to join! A snowy Christmasday in 2017 with ice slush at the beach I realized I couldn't say no. I still remember the feeling of going in and actually surviving, it was mind blowing! Since then I have been practicing Ice Bathing more or less once a week from October till May.

I never counted but I would guess I have been in the ocean between 150 and 200 times. I have several groups I enjoy this hobby together with and sometimes I even go in alone, just in the company of my dog. I love to practice cold-dips at sunrise! It brings an extra dimension to it. Being in the cold water and seeing the sun rise is the perfect way to start a new day!