Updated: Nov 10, 2021
Yes, I know... it's no longer summer in much of the country. But, I am at the beach for a few days, and what I saw intrigued me.
As you know, or if not - here you go, the sandpipers are the mostly smaller (sometimes we also see the larger version) birds who peck in the wet sand after the waves have receded.
If you sit at the beach, or walk down it, you can see them running along waters edge. They remind me of bees when it comes to their busyness. Running to and fro, up and down and always looking for little critters or biofilm from the last wave. Absolutely adorable to watch.
So, as I stood there breathing in those ions released by the waves hitting the sand I couldn't help but think of my own life and compare it to the sandpiper. This might seem strange to some since I am 6'1" in height and they are only a few inches tall. Yet, as they are running from, and at the same time running after the waves the comparison could not be avoided.
You see, for most of my life I've run after life and what I wanted (or so I thought), and when life presented me with the ability, the possibility, the opportunity, wouldn't you know it.... I ran as fast as those little creatures away... as far away as I could...
As the waves then recede, or life withdraws its offers for the moment, I then would throw a fit and keep trying to catch up to the lost opportunities.
When offered it again, there I was, on my two skinny legs, running as fast as I could... Just to, yet once more, run after it when it was taken away.
This is a very common and exhausting way of living. So why do we do it?
I can only speak for myself. If I stand my ground and embrace those opportunities, those changes in life, instead of running from them, I can explore where they take me and decide if it is a path to follow. If I don't even try I will never know. These might not be obvious at times. Other times we might be getting hit over the head a guzillion million times before we realize that there is an open door for us to investigate.
We are given this most beautiful life! With all its glory, joy, pain, frustration... and so on... you get the point.
HAVE COURAGE, MY FRIEND!
Most situations and people are in your life for a reason, and all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly make you a better YOU! And for me, that is my ultimate goal. For if I am THE best I can be, others will be ignited by my fire and will be encouraged to be the best they can be.
So, when the waves of life hit you, don't run but let them wash over you and decide to take a bath!
Just like a little sandpiper couple I observed yesterday. Up to then I had only seen them running away from the waves, but yesterday, there were two who let those waves wash over them... even run towards the water to take their bath. What a wonderful little sight and I thought to myself, if that little birds isn't afraid to face the waves as they hit the beach, why would I need to be afraid when the waves of life hit me.
TANGO
There's a specific kind of sadness
That keeps us just content enough
To remain outside of madness
And gladly take it's bluff
Yet, if we begin to stir
Grow a spine and start to move
We finally push through that blur
And dance life's funky groove.
- copy right: Mid-Life Poetry, Book Two