Lessons from Lake Michigan
Over the weekend, I went to Lake Michigan.
I woke up at 7:30 a.m. Sunday and made my way to Holland, a little town about 40 minutes west of Grand Rapids. It was my lucky day because when I arrived, I practically had the entire beach to myself (except the two folks with metal detectors down the way). I enjoyed about 20 minutes of quiet on the shore before families started appearing. I listened to the calm water wash over the sand. It was heaven.
After soaking in those quiet moments and journaling for a bit, I took a dip. The highlight of my morning was jumping into the cold water. Yep, I was probably the only person swimming in the lake and it was great. Not even the little kiddos that started showing up made it into the water. (The temperature was probably around 65-68 degrees fahrenheit, so not quite bath water.)
Floating in the lake reminded me of a few things:
Let go: I had a moment where the world — and the lake — felt much bigger than me. Obviously, Lake Michigan is enormous. But floating on in the cool water helped me let go of the desire to always be in control. In that moment, the water had my back.
Keep doing what you want to do: I love the beach. And I love going to the beach early in the morning before people get there. While I was a little tired Sunday morning and almost skipped out on my grand beach plan, I stayed committed to doing what I wanted to do.
There’s still a lot of summer left: My little beach trip brought me back to the present. I was starting to worry about the summer days fading away, but going to the beach brought me back to the present moment. And that moment was oh so good.
I thought I had a few more reminders from my morning at the beach, but that’s all for now. What I will end with is this: say yes to the things you want to do and do them. You might be surprised by the joy it sparks in you.
