When the Waves come Crashing

“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”

~Jon Kabat-Zinn

The last year has been unlike any other year. I know for me there were so many emotions. Many times I felt overwhelmed. The waves felt like they were just coming bigger and faster. I knew that something had to change.

Have you felt like this, overwhelmed, in the last year?

This is life and no one said life was supposed to be easy. Jon Kabat-Zinn says we can learn to surf. There are tools we can use when things get like this. We have resources. What are those resources for you?

My resources were meditation, yoga, nature, and connection with others. Even in a pandemic, connections are very important.

I found people that were safe to cycle with that challenged me and we’re willing to have conversations. I had a yoga community that was thriving online that gave routine. I had a book study group that met every Wednesday evening, it was a safe space to talk about anything. I got out out walked multiple times in the day while working from home. I was grateful to have a meditation practice.

These were safe places for me to engage in the community. They were places I could talk about things that were really going on. These were places I was able to put my training wheels on and navigate the dark and overwhelming times.

The waves kept coming but I started to learn how to surf the waves rather than the waves crashing on me.

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Day #8 of 30 Days of photos. I took this at Pismo on November 4, 2012.