My Adventure for Self-Care

Hey there 🙂 Over the past couple of days I have encouraged you to care for yourself. You guys have given me great responses on how you do so: reading a book, wearing sweats, listening to podcasts, and praying.

So, I figure, if I am going to challenge you guys to do something, then I should follow through as well. So yesterday, I decided to take an adventure and to seek out this mysterious entity of “self-care.”

 

With my boyfriend and two best friends, I ended up at the ocean.

Unintentionally, we arrived, unpacked out bikes, and made it to the shore just in time for sunset. I realized that in order for me to put aside my work and my goals, in order to focus on me, I have to get out of the city. I have to put physical distance between myself and whatever obstacles I feel like I need to tackle that day.

Like I said, we arrived in time for a beautiful sunset and some fun photos.

Afterward, we got on our bikes and rode from pier to pier, often looking at the beautiful houses that lined the beach and dreaming about someday vacationing in one of them. They were gorgeous, some had beautiful high ceilings, others had stone walls, and one even had a firepit on the roof!

And yet, we couldn’t help but to remember the Bible verse warning to not build one’s house on the sand. The verse cautions us to build our faith and our lives on the Rock, on God, instead of the shifting sands of the world. True to that thought, we passed several homes that were in the middle of construction or in need of it due to the storms that hit on the coast. It was a mesmerizing mix of beauty and destruction.

Biking nearly five miles to get there, we finally reached our goal

Let me just tell you, nothing beats eating at Ruby’s after a long bike ride and breathing the salty sea on the air. (Although biking back was a bit more difficult after we stuffed ourselves, ha!)

Finally, when we were almost back to our cars, we stopped and sat on a lifeguard tower.

Although it is light when I took this picture, by the time we sat up there it was pitch black. We could hardly see the waves, except for when they would rise and crash over in white foams. It was breathtaking. We sat and watched the waves for nearly an hour, sometimes talking, sometimes in silence.

I don’t know if I’ve ever noticed it before when I’ve gone to the beach during the day, but just before the wave breaks there is a pause. . .

 

Like lungs

expanding, holding,

air filling, stretching,

Ocean waves peak,

hold,

hold,

and then,

furiously, collapse

white foam

flinging into the air

breath released

as wave assimilates

with wave

 

I found it, that elusive “self-care” manifest in relaxation and peace. I left in awe of God’s creation and my muse well satisfied.

Anyone else feeling inspired by nature lately?

Happy Writing Everyone!