The Call of the Sea
If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you probably already know about my love of water. Even though I’m an earth sign (Virgo), I was drawn to water from a young age. My family called me a fish because I was always in the pool until my skin would prune. My brother and I often walked along our dirt road to a spot where we would sit on moss-covered rocks beside a stream that rippled through the woods. The house I grew up in had a lake and two ponds within a mile, where we would water ski, kayak, and swim in the summer and ice skate in the winter. The Atlantic Ocean was always freezing cold in the North East, but we would swim in it anyway on hot August days.
Living in Colorado, being landlocked, means I seek out water whenever I can. I work on the water during the summer, teaching stand-up paddleboard yoga on small lakes near our home. When we go camping, we always pick a spot close to a lake or creek. Our vacations are usually to places by the water. Costa Rica draws me every year not only for yoga but also for its beaches and waterfalls.
Tomorrow, we’re flying to Mexico for a long weekend of scuba diving so I can drift silently among the fish, turtles, and whale sharks. I feel at peace breathing through my regulator many feet below the surface.
During Ride the Rockies in 2015, as I pedaled over 400 miles through the Colorado mountains, my favorite days were when the road followed a river. I had hours on the bike to contemplate my love for water and why it calms me. I thought about all of the ways I can relate to the river.
Like a river, I am always moving, flowing through life, taking new things in and carrying them until they no longer serve me, then depositing them along the shore. When I face obstacles, I may need to change course or find a way through, over, or around them, but I keep moving forward. Sometimes I influence those I meet—shaping or smoothing their edges. I can be unintentionally destructive when my life is stormy. My life’s goal is to help others grow and thrive.
Water gives life and can be gentle and peaceful, but it can also be powerful enough to carve canyons, reshape landscapes, or even end lives. Water can change from liquid to solid and back again. It reminds us that the only constant is change, but we have the tools and resources to keep moving through it all.
Last summer, I wrote a post about how living near water provides various psychological and physical health benefits, such as reducing stress, encouraging physical activity, and enhancing air quality. I’ve linked it below.
I’ll leave you with this quote from E.E. Cummings: “For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), It’s always our self we find in the sea.”
