Your Happy Place?

“At sea I learned how little one needs, not how much” - Robin Lee Graham

I’m not sure how old I was when the sea enchanted me, but I couldn’t have been very old. My mother tells me I was always the first one running to the water’s edge and happiest when I was covered head to toe in sand, digging holes to far-away lands, or playing in the shallows chasing fish.

I guess not much has changed! When I was 21 I took an ocean voyage on a 45-Ft catamaran and crossed the Atlantic Ocean - from Capetown to the Caribbean. That trip gave me a whole new respect for the sea. To go weeks without sighting land, to crave the sighting of something green and living, to be permanently coated with a thin layer of salt, to continuously scan the horizon looking for sightings of whales, or partly submerged containers (either if we hit would mean sinking for sure), to feel her wrath and anger in a storm as she tossed us about like a cork in a wave pool thinking the end surely was near, to feel that incredible sense of peace at night as I floated on her calm inky black waters under a sky peppered with diamonds and shooting stars…

Yes the ocean always has, and always will be my place of being. Of feeling alive. Of stripping away everything superfluous and seeing the threads of life that really matter. Not the crap and noise and stress.

For the last 10 years I’ve lived in a land-locked state (Michigan). Having grown up in New Zealand where you’re never more than 200 miles from the ocean, no matter where you are - this took some getting used to. Ok I never got used to it. My soul always craved time with the sea. I ignored it for the first few years, especially when my little one was so young. But once the second birthday milestone had rocked around, the universe intervened and we were invited on a beach holiday in Florida with some family who were visiting from South Africa.

Despite getting hit by a hurricane it was still a fantastic trip. For two days straight I got to swim in the ocean. Float on my back. Look up at the blue sky and just BE. My happy place.

Now, no matter where we live I make it a priority to take a trip to the seaside at least once a year. It lifts my spirits, helps me get my life back into focus and my priorities in right order. It renews me the way nothing else can. As a #SMG in training it’s so important.

What is your happy place? Where do you feel your most alive? Most relaxed? Your most energized? How can you make this happen for yourself?