The sound of an alarm jolting my awareness. The difficult decision to heed its call to action. The crisp air. The sound of seagulls. The crashing waves. The salt water spray. All leading to another perspective.
All of my senses were drenched with hope and expectation. It was my 657th mile to drive this week and I was exhausted. Hips screaming at me to rest after the long drive, but a good night’s rest led to an astonishing early morning walk with an old friend. The kind of friend you see once every few years and you pick up the conversation like it was yesterday. The kind of friend who you feel blessed to share these kinds of unplanned moments.
You see my goal was to simply walk near the ocean. To get my Zen for the day before a long day of meetings. For me, there is something so infinitely hopeful about the ocean. I know its patterns and its familiarity. It is a source of life. The sounds of the ocean have the power to chase away any (and hopefully all) negative thoughts. The goal today was purely and selfishly about my perspective. I wanted to be able to check off one of the “to do’s” of my recovery process. To say, I accomplished something today that I did not know I could do 3 months ago - to be able to take pride in a stubbornness streak that my family has always had to put up with. To be able to experience the relaxation that the salt air, the crashing waves and the sunrise bring to my heart. My Namaste.
At one moment, there was a glorious sunrise and I asked my friend to snap my picture demonstrating the awe of that moment and, with a bit of luck, displaying my hope. Again, it was my perspective. It was about me. Life’s challenges relating to my hips! Of course, these hips are now on the nearer side to healthy. They do not equal pain. They do not equal instability. They do not equal fear. They are hope!
But, of course, there is always another lesson and another person’s perspective that you must consider to be able to reflect on your own perspective. To gain hope on your journey is to look at other’s journeys. Whether it is Fierce’s journey, or Power’s journey or that of Katie’s, there is always someone else’s perspective that can help manage your own travels through this healing process.
On this day of seeing the pastel shades of a sunrise, I was humbled to also think about the possible perspectives of three other families. Whatever their stories were, I knew they were much more significant than my hip problems. I knew that theirs were life altering and represented permanent changes. They symbolized the loss of life and, possibly, the loss of hope.
As we rounded a corner on the path leading to my Zen moment, my relaxation, the awe of my journey, I saw the names and pictures of three young men in a beautiful outdoor shrine framed with fresh flowers. I do not know these boy’s travels, but I do know that the ocean must have represented to them or their families the infinite possibilities of life. It may have represented shared moments of bonfires, sandcastles, and sunrises.
Today, find the challenge of seeing someone else’s perspective so you find blessings in your own.
5-mile walk
10,000 steps
Beautiful sunrise
Perspective: Priceless
