For women approaching midlife who have abandoned themselves in service of others, a memoir of jumping feet first into a new life, reclaiming long-forgotten joys, and discovering a renewed sense of self after divorce

As Kate Washington approached her 50th birthday, she was also ending a 23-year marriage in which she had become so focused on serving others that she’d lost her sense of self. To find herself again, she embarked on what she calls the 50 Dunks Project.

The rules: Go to 50 different bodies of water—swimming holes, hot springs, rivers, lakes, creeks, and oceans. Immerse fully, head under water. Chronicle the dunk with a picture and a post. Complete the challenge by the time she turned 50.

Largely set in Kate’s native California but taking us as far as southern France, dunking us in the waters of the Sacramento River, Lake Tenaya, Big Chico Creek, the Rive Gard, and beyond, Kate shares the highlights of her 50 Dunk challenge—including dozens of fantastic, semi-secret places to swim.

Along the way, she combines self-examination, wry humor, lyrical description, and cultural critique to illuminate the factors that so often cause women to lose themselves. Watersheds makes the case for embracing joy and pleasure as a necessary act of resistance, both for individuals and for the culture at large.