The Ocean’s Embrace – The Healing Powers of its Waves

My Lovelies,

Isabelle here! Welcome back to PawzandProse.blog. It’s always a pleasure to have this weekly moment with all of you. I truly can't express my gratitude enough for having you as part of my online lovelies and family! ❤️ Now, after a couple of weeks of discussing a pawsome adventure, Athena’s first visit to the dog park (if you’re wondering what I’m talking about, please visit the blog section of our website to read our past posts if you haven’t already done so), it’s time to move on to another beautiful adventure I’ve recently experienced myself… the ocean!

So, you’re probably thinking, “Ok Isabelle...you’re REALLY going to have to explain this one. You’ve told us before that you are from Southern California. How is it that you were born and raised there, in an area that’s notoriously surrounded by beaches, and yet you've barely experienced them?” Great observations and yes, of course I'll explain myself (don't I always? LOL). Yes, I indeed have been to the beaches ever since I was a child, in fact, I was raised going to the beaches with my family. Some of my fondest childhood memories are having snacks and enjoying the waves with my immediate and extended family on hot summer days. This being said, it has only been with my recent life experiences and with me now being in my mid-thirties that I have been able to start truly appreciating its true healing properties and its beauty.

This realization dawned hard on me a week ago on a beach trip I took with my immediate family. We were thinking of what to do on our Saturday afternoon and unanimously decided to take a ride down to Santa Monica. We took off on our relaxing hour ride there and, after a brief search around the city in what seemed like a sea (no pun intended) of parking lots, found a place to park on the side of the road by the rocks. Once there, I moved to an area a few feet away from my family for a moment to myself. I took in the sites and then decided to close my eyes and allow the sounds around me to orchestrate in my ears. In between the cacophony of cars, people talking, and waves hitting the rocks I opened my eyes and became speechless. I have to take a moment here to explain something before I continue with my experience and say that my husband was a BIG outdoors guy. To him, if he was invited anywhere and it meant enjoying a hiking trail, a camping site, or a fishing trip (even in the deep sea) … he was ALL for it. At this moment, as I took in the vastness of the water and its melodious sounds, it was like I felt him and his outdoorsy/loving spirit joining me. It was like God (the universe, whatever you feel inclined to call it) was reminding me for a moment that it was ok for me to take a metaphorical and literal breather. It was like, for the first time in a while, amidst all the chaos of the day-to-day, my body was somehow connected to a “charger” of sorts, and I was able to refuel the energy I had spent. I decided I would not let this opportunity pass and that I would take every moment I could to use each of the crashes to refuel my emotional and spiritual "batteries".

Why is this experience important to share? Why did I feel this was important to share? My lovelies, it’s because of what I was reflecting on at that moment and what I have been reflecting on as I prepared to write this for you and that is that life can be DAMN chaotic and hard. Pardon my frankness, but any of us who dare to take a moment to reflect and admit that we are human can also admit to the fact that life is F*****G hard at times and we ALL eventually find ourselves in a desperate need of a break. These past few weeks and months have been some where my anxiety has been at full force in all aspects of my life and, like all of us, I too get overwhelmed and tired. It gets to a point where, without moments like this that I experienced at the ocean, it’s hard both emotionally and mentally to move forward. I know that I’m not the first one to feel like this and my hope is that you too can find a person/place/hobby that will give you that same relaxing feeling. I hope that whatever that place or that conversation may look like for you, that it leaves you with that same feeling of release and being full of energy that the ocean and its beauty gave me at that moment.

This blog post I hope will serve two purposes: the first being that, as I said, that you too find something that grants you a way to recover the peace that life steals from us with its daily hustle and bustle. Second, if you are having trouble finding that moment or that place, to grant you a starting point. If you are needing that brief recharge/restart and if you have the opportunity to do so, that you too visit the ocean. It doesn’t have to be a long visit… a visit to the beach can have healing properties with just 15-20 minutes of you being there. All you have to do to experience its healing properties is just be able to feel the sand between your toes or even just sit on the edge of the sand, close your eyes, and let the sounds and smells take over. I certainly had taken for granted what the ocean could grant me with each visit but, now that I fully understand and have experienced it, I can’t WAIT to go back.

Until the next one my Lovelies,

XOXO Isabelle 😘❤️ XOXO