Colette Murphy is the Chief Executive Officer of the Atkinson Foundation.

In the first Saturday edition a new year, the Toronto Star asked 50 Torontonians to “tell [them] how, in this city, they find happiness, so that in 2025, we all might find more of it.” I chose the Sunnyside-Gus Ryder Outdoor Pool:

“I’ve loved early mornings [at the pool] for only five of its 100 years on the lakeshore. I get my first dopamine hit on the bike route connecting my door and the pool gate. I join a queue, including someone who has traveled an hour by public transit, to claim a lane. In an instant, the chilly water delivers all the endorphins I need for the day. But it is the memory of moving with other swimmers to a common rhythm that is a source of happiness from one season to the next. What began during the pandemic as a solitary, sanity-preserving swim, has become a joyful experience of community care.”