Swept Up Whole
You aren't swept up whole,
however it feels. You're
atomized. The wind passes.
You recongeal. It's
a surprise.by Kay Ryan
This weekend, after a particularly stressful month, I went to the beach for some alone time.
I arrived heavy, the burden of work, relationships, ambitions, and self-doubt on my shoulders. I sat down for about an hour, and then, remarkably, I felt lighter. Nature has a way of doing that.
Watching the waves is peaceful. They're both relentless and invariably unique. They have crashed for every beachgoer since the dawn of time and will continue to do so long after humans are extinct. While there will always be waves, each one is different, unique, and interesting. Some delicate and calm; others violent and dangerous; each beautiful.
In the past couple months, there've been a number of times where I wish things went differently, or I’m feeling anxious about how a future situation might go. What if it doesn’t happen the way I want it to? Or if only I could just go back in time, then I could just do it differently. Then things would be so much better, things wouldn’t be so tough, in fact life would be amazing.
Have you ever went for a swim and got caught in the waves? You try to swim against it, but you get tumbled and you don’t know which way is up. You fight and yet you can’t find the surface. Scary.
But the next time you go for a swim, you might find that you can watch for when waves are coming, relax as it washes over you, and come up for air once it passes. Much better.
I've found most things in life to be pretty similar. Happy things, sad things, good things, bad things, it's all just like waves. Some pleasant, some scary, none ever the same. But, if you take the time to notice, each one can be just as beautiful. You also have to remember, you can’t stop the waves, they'll keep coming. Time doesn't slow for anyone. But you can learn to swim. Let them come, surrender to their power, and before you know it, you might even start to enjoy just being in the water.
And isn’t that the whole point?