Last week’s trip to the Englewood was an escape from the madness that has been all-consuming these past couple of months.
Being overwhelmed with work, financial, and a myriad of other issues has become the new norm of these past few months and there was a sense of leaving things behind as we climbed into the car and headed off down the I-75 with Tampa firmly in the rear view mirror.
By the time we hit the beach and began the task of shell-collecting, the storm clouds that had been firmly positioned above us had largely dissipated and our minds shifted away from the dark realities that they carried within them.
By the time we had watched the sun decline below the horizon we had spent hours collecting the gulf’s wonderful bounty, dined and drank in the company of a most special friend, and returned in time to watch the sky perform its golden dance before it settled on a blue blackness that would persist until the next morning came.
We three spoke of things that were important and trivial, amusing and serious and by the time we adjourned to bed, real-life seemed much further away than the mere couple of hours to Tampa.
We got up early the following morning and resumed the shell collecting and by the time we left we had a genuine stash of interesting shells and shark-teeth to remind us of our mini-getaway.
I have included some pics at the end of this blog that progress from the early moments after arriving until the sunset that closed out our evening. I hope you enjoy!
In any event, the thought for this blog formed around a conversation that we had the prior evening over a few Coronas. It was at a momentary pause in our discussions that I used the word “Refuge” in describing how this getaway had felt and we all agreed that there was a sense of peaceful escape from life that had soothed our minds and engulfed our souls.
You see, when we find ourselves dealing with life’s challenges and difficulties on a frequent and sustained level, it can become our norm and have very real impact on our general outlook and health.
When our level of happiness and our outlook becomes a casualty of the life we are living, we often don’t even notice. We just wake up one day and find that life is such a struggle that we question its worth.
These depths, when sustained, can form the basis for a truly low phase of our life.
And one of the best solutions to dealing with a low phase, is to step away and realign your thoughts away from the problems that have formed the clouds.
Seeking refuge, no matter how momentary, is a valuable mechanism that shouldn’t be under-rated.
Our minds have a way of dealing with things that keep current and important things in the front of our thoughts so that they can be dealt with. When there are too many thoughts and issues to deal with where our brain goes into overload, we are left with a feeling of being overwhelmed.
There are moments in most of our lives when being overwhelmed with the situations we are in becomes a reality and the problem with that occurring too often or even just across a sustained period of time, is that our mind then has no space to acknowledge the good things of life that are happening around us.
We don’t think about our good state of health, the love of those around us, or even just the soft breeze and blue skies that are doing their best to lift our spirits.
No, we become focused on the negative and the serious and at that moment in time can be forgiven for thinking that this is what our life has become.
This is where finding a tiny refuge away from all the shit affords us the chance to breathe in some of the good aspects of our life and appreciate where we are at this point in time.
Incidentally, such a break also allows us to refocus so that when we return to the rigors from whence we fled, we often do so in a more competent and positive manner. But this is a by-product and not really my point.
My point is this. When we are at a point in life where we are so lost in the trees that we can’t see the forest, we NEED to step back and breathe in the better parts of life. Keeping perspective is the difference between thinking we are living a good life or a bad one.
… just a thought!
