Navigating stressful times can be difficult and finding a strategy that helps you stay on track mentally and emotionally can be difficult, too.
Finding something that helped me relax was a long process of trial and error. I found some strategies that work for others, like yoga, listening to music or taking a hot shower did not really work for me as they were normal things I did often throughout my day. It took me a while, but I realized that my best act of self-care was not an action to perform, but a place to go to instead.
For the last three years, the ocean has been my favorite place. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore, the smell of the salty air and the feeling of the warm grainy sand in between my toes is such a fulfilling feeling. The beach aesthetic in itself is enough to make me forget about whatever it is that is wearing me down. I love visiting the little towns near the shore, with all the shops and the broken seashells that line the streets.
A couple years ago I went through something traumatic and I struggled for a long time. I was depressed, anxious and had absolutely no motivation to wake up and be a student or a friend. I changed as a person into someone I was not proud of and was having a hard time processing and bouncing back until one day when I went to the beach to sit and read a book. I ended up not reading the book, but the ocean instead. I sat in the sand and watched the ocean for hours.
It sounds really cliche, but ever since then, the beach has been my go to place: the one place I always want to be. It brings me so much happiness and serenity. In the summer, I sail with my friends and family, which is something I have become more passionate about. I love boating. I love being on the water. I love watching aquatic animals. Everything about the ocean is amazing to me. I have learned many things about myself as an individual with the help of the ocean and all it encompasses and for that I am truly grateful. Sometimes self-care is not something you do, but somewhere you go.
