Friday, January 7, 2011

Waves...


I've never been a beach fan - there's nothing more boring to me than sitting on the beach doing nothing, especially that I am not that great of a swimmer and besides that, I prefer swimming in a swimming pool rather than the sea or ocean; however, I found myself going to Bali for Christmas where people go to be on the beach, to surf, to do all these water activities.
I ended up enjoying sitting on the beach and reading eventually and I went in the water a few times just to play in the waves. Many surfers go to Bali, as it has good waves therefore it is a great place for surfing. I don't surf, I tried diving once, I snorkel a bit and that's about it.
I was in the water just waiting for the waves to come, so I can let myself carried away, my friend suggested I just dive under when the wave comes; I thought to myself: "there's no way I am doing that!! This is too scary for me!" She then said: if you dive under it, you won't even feel it, it is so calm and peaceful down! I am perfectly happy for the wave that comes and sweeps me off my feet, lifts me up and for a second I get this rush of adrenaline mixed with fear that I am not touching the bottom of the ocean and I could drown; then the second one comes (there's always 2 waves) and hits me in the face as I am still dizzy from the previous one, wiping my face and making sure the salty water doesn't get in my eyes; by the second wave I've lost all enjoyment and I freak out... no rush of adrenaline, no excitement .... I am just worried I could drown!
It took me a good half an hour to get the courage to go under and when I did, it felt peaceful... you couldn't see the rushing wave, you couldn't hear it breaking, no salty water in my eyes, no fear of dying, and actually still touching the ground! That is much better!!! I need to be touching the ground!
I couldn't stop thinking how often when life throws waves at me I just decide to stand there and confront it, and get hit in the face or worse get hit in the back when you don't expect it to come, when it would be so easy to dive, to anchor myself in God, to hide myself under and then let the wave go above me. Making a big deal of the life's waves has become a second job in a way - and when I look at it the wave only lasts for a few seconds .Why do I let those few seconds affect my whole day, week, month, year??

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