Every Breaking Wave
A lot can be learned by observing nature.
I learned an important life lesson while on my vacation in Bentota, Sri Lanka. Beautiful place, beautiful beaches and delightful dishes. I love natural water bodies, especially the ocean. Swimming in natural water bodies brings me close to nature. It was during one such swim at Bentota, I learned a lesson for life.
When you enter the sea, you are faced with whitish aftermath of the breaking wave. You feel the water passing over your feet and sand receding under you as the wave makes its way back into the ocean. But it does not hinder your journey towards the sea.
As you go nearer to the point where the wave breaks, you feel the resistance of the sea. You feel the water pushing you back, impeding your journey into the ocean. However, the resistance isn’t strong. You still manage to balance your body and continue on your journey.
You encounter the strongest part of the wave at the exact point where it breaks. If you are caught by the wave at this point, you cannot help but accept it pushing you back. But, once it pushes you back two paces, you again stride forward towards the sea.
As you keep moving forward, you reach a point, where you notice that the waves are breaking behind you. I call this point — The Sweet Spot of your journey into the sea. You now realize that the waves don’t affect you at all. At the sweet spot, you are at least chest deep into the water and buoyant enough to float a bit. Waves at the sweet spot cause you no harm. They just pick you up from the sea bed and put you back without majorly impacting your position in the sea. From this point, when you look back to the shore, you see other people on their journey into the sea, who are now being impacted by the breaking wave, which reminds you about your journey to the place where you are currently standing.
However, everything is not rosy at this spot. One out of around 20 waves, will still break right at your exact sweet spot. When I was faced with these breaking waves at the sweet spot, I was baffled, as they caught me unaware. Then, I noticed a bunch of swimmers on my right, who instead of standing in front of the wave, dipped themselves inside the sea as the wave broke over them. It too tried this approach on the next wave and was hit with a sweet realization. The sea is not as turbulent beneath the surface. The breaking of the wave causes turbulence only on the surface. When you are completely submerged in the water, you are not affected by the wave at all.
It is much similar in real life. This journey into the ocean is akin to when you decide to take on a difficult task such as starting a business or freelancing full-time or becoming an independent artist. Or taking up any form of work that does not give you immediate returns, but there are longer-term returns if you stick to the plan. At the advent of your journey, you will be faced with small obstacles. These obstacles will seem humungous because you are new to the game and do not truly understand the rules yet. Your love for the task that you have taken up will give you the strength to face these obstacles. You are pushed back, but you keep moving forward for the love of your art. You keep moving facing the violence of the waves in a quest to reach the sweet spot waiting for you behind the breaking point. A spot where you are no longer affected by the obstacles. It isn’t that the obstacles disappear, but you grow resistant to them. You now understand how to predict problems or obstacles coming your way and how to manoeuvre around them. So that’s the sweet spot you have to reach as an entrepreneur or an independent artist.
Similar, to the oceanic sweet spot, you will be hit with obstacles that will catch you unaware, but you have to just be patient and look within yourself or around yourself for solutions & ways to avoid these obstacles.
A lot can be learned by simply observing nature.
Whispering Waves
Waves come crashing to grey sullen shores.
Powerful and strong, it breathes and roars.
Cascading and caressing each grain of sand,
A warm embrace between sea and land.High above, a seagull soars high.
Wings of purity it spreads to fly.
Battling high against darkened cloud,
In a wind that blows fiercely, flying graceful and proud.Beneath, the sand is soft and warm.
Sculpted by nature, it’s weathered the storm.
A passionate battle between calmness and rage,
A new chapter’s beginning; don’t turn the last page.I listen again to the whispering waves,
Music of nature calming and brave.
Its power unknown, its stillness untamed,
Mysterious and magical, a treasure earth claims.© Edel T. Copeland
