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Ava 🩷

@ava_cook1

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Bits from summer

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The one where we got stuck in Dubai

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Long overdue Dubai dump 🇦🇪 🌞 🏊‍♀️

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Dubai was a blast 💥🇦🇪

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Sun, swimming, and some missiles with some pretty cool people. ☀️🏊‍♂️🚀

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Midway thru camp dump ☀️🫶

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Luxembourg🇱🇺 Euro Meet 2025 So grateful for this amazing opportunity to race on the international stage!!

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Luxembourg euro meet 🇱🇺 2025

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From London to... Gibraltar!🇬🇧🇪🇸 (ok technically this is Malaga airport)

I was exactly where I thought I was at British Champs - a mile off my best, I did not have the training for it behind me. But if I'd never turned up, I'd have always "what if" and now I know - I gave EVERYTHING I possibly could to try and make Paris, I can't question that. And that's all we can ask of ourselves. It was so nice to go back to my roots and race for Sheffield, with my friends and with my loved ones in the stands, and to get to cheer for my pals after my own races!

The hardest part wasn't racing, but seeing people who I last saw before Worlds. Watching other people's disappointment is hard, and initially, I felt like I had let people down. But I hadn't and once I realised that, I could see that it was a kind disappointment - people who believed I could and would make Paris and wanted me to be there. It melted and broke my heart all at once - it wasn't the year we aspired to, but I am so proud of what we DID achieve, and so grateful that I had people fighting hard for me in the face of so much uncertainty and adversity. I'm sad we never got to do it on the world's biggest stage, but we already achieved the impossible! Mike and team got me from a girl who couldn't eat a full meal, couldn't train a full session, couldn't have a period, couldn't stay healthy... To a happy, healthy person, then got me swimming, got me racing again, then got me to two World Champs?! Unbelievable.

Can't wait to watch my friends tear up Paris this summer! 🇫🇷

This is a new chapter for me, nut this is not retirement! I was back in the pool straight after Trials... bigger things to come!

I'm posting this from Gibraltar, where I'm about to swim the Strait of Gibraltar with some other cool folks!! 🐬🐬

New chapter, new goals, in and out of the water👀😁

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Fun in the ☀️ ahead of trials next week!!

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Things I did to help during xmas with an ED (pt 1.)

Another xmas where I'm happily the other side of it. I didn't think I'd get here but I am teehee let that give you hope🥹 I'm CLEARLY not a medical professional, but also, these things helped me:

🫶🏻 Accept it's gonna be hard, but also that you can get through it.
There's no point in pretending that it's gonna be easy. That's ridiculous and you wouldn't believe that... but also, you're still here, you've got through hard things, you can get through this hard thing too!

🤳 Before it all gets too much, find a phone-a-friend
Asking for help is hard, and the lower we are, the harder it is. So, before you hit that point, tell someone what's going on and ask if they feel up to being on the end of a phone on a bad day. If they don't have the capacity, ask someone else. It's a good idea to have a couple of people in mind because no one can always be free when we need them! It doesn't even have to be in person. I couldn't make the words come out when I first started talking about mental health (believe it or not), but I could, over a week, write about it, email it to the people who needed to know, and drop them a text to let them know I'd sent them something I'd appreciate them reading.

🌳Plan how to make it easier
It might be planning some nice things you love around the hard things (for me, cups of tea, curling up with a book, getting into nature). Or it might be getting someone's help to make the tricky bit easier. For example (after my letter), my mum asked me what would help and suggested that we all dish ourselves up. No big deal was made, but instead of dishing everyone up, everyone served themselves. No fuss, easy peasy. I appreciate that opening up to family is not an option for everyone, and if not, then it's even more important to find friends or a health professional to check in with to help you through! If you have someone around the dinner table who is happy to volunteer on your behalf to shut down any silly talk about diets or calories, this can also be helpful.

Pt. 2 later this week because I'm incapable of keeping to IG's character limit

Love and hugs if you're strugs x

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Getting Christmassy in November🥰🎄

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