Oh look, it's another photo of my dog and the ocean.
But hear me out. This is how we start or end the day, sometimes both, almost every day. Today was a solid 5 miles along the shoreline from Rehoboth to Dewey and back. We lost track of time and distance. Because, here, time stops. We all know the ocean brings healing energy, that’s a given. Blah. Blah. Blah. But I had no idea how much this would become a part of my every day, and how it’d slow it all down for me. My thoughts. My worries. My non-stop hamster wheel of ideas, although creative and worthy, can sometimes move so fast I can’t even keep track of them until they pop back in my mind hours, days, weeks, months later. And sometimes lost altogether (where do those go, anyway?). I feel nourished here. I get lost here. In all the ways I need to. And I’m not talking some hippy-dippy stare out at the ocean and meditate with my legs folded over type of sh*t. I’m just talking about walking along the ocean, hearing the waves crash in the background while my eyes glaze over piles and piles of tumbled, well-loved-by-the-sea stone, shells, and sea glass that have found their way to shore. It’s mesmerizing. It’s simple.
It’s November, winter is near. And I’ve got to be honest, I thought I’d miss the mountains more, and the damp, dreary days that come along with them this time of the year. Yes, really, I love that. But I'm learning it’s really the elements that do it for me, no matter where I am. And that can be anywhere. Being outside. Being small. In a place that costs nothing, but brings such richness. Mountains. Ocean. Snow. Salt. Whatever it is.
G E T O U T S I D E.
It brings peace. It nourishes in ways far beyond what you may realize, and its absence creates a void you don’t know exists until you learn to fill it. So get outside. And if you live in a place that makes that hard. Find it. Find a park. Find some trees. Stare at a stream. Find a puddle for goodness sake – and watch how the soft shift in the wind creates ripples. Get lost. Be free. And if it takes hopping in a car, or even a plane to find it. Make sure you do.
You can always visit me.