.. Je ne sais quoi?

I’ve been thinking recently about priorities and wanted to pen some stuff down, to keep myself in check if nothing else! But let me back up a tad..

It’s been a busy, exciting, and tiring year for me. Lately, with getting married and inheriting a new side of the family, I’ve been cherishing my family time way more then I ever have. We managed to get a weekend away with some of the family by the beach the other weekend and it was so, so great. My first break in ages, and first time by the sea since for what seems a long, long time. The disadvantage to living in the middle of England, I guess.

We arrived at our tired looking, 1970’s décor filled, seafront hotel room (which was wonderfully tacky but it somehow added to the whole seaside, pier slides, crazy golf, fish n’ chips and arcade game experience) to find the main window overlooking the vast, sun soaked North Sea. And it was perfect.

Instantly, stress levels that I didn’t even realise I had, began to ease.

There’s something beautiful about the sea. Whatever it is, I’m sure its the same reason why so many people I know, including myself, would say they would love to live near it one day or would consider a dinner for two on a sea-view balcony to be one of the most romantic things to do. Perhaps even the same reason why the stereotypical ‘Surfer Dude’ is so chilled out (.. and no, it’s not the weed for most surfers I’m sure 😉 )

I wonder if it’s the open space… The vastness of it all. The confined spaces that we find ourselves in everyday can really put a mental block on our state of mind. Whether it’s the office, bedroom, or even garden our sense of perception is shrunk and all our problems seem huge and in our face. It’s reassuring when you look out to as far as the eye can see, and all of sudden problems seem their rightful small insignificant size.

There’s also the constant moving of the waves, the gentle current, the sea birds bobbing, the waves rolling. Nothing is stagnant. I don’t think I realise how often I hold in pressures, frustrations, anger, or other emotions, deeper thoughts, and forget to deal with them just because there’s simply no time. Just swept under the carpet until I get to a point where I’m a little depressed, and I don’t know why. While I watch the sea, my mind just processes, slowly, calmly and steadily.

The unique sound of waves crashing, and water rushing through sand and stone are so commonly recorded and sold as CD’s (as cheesey as they seem) to help people who struggle, sleep. I’m sure there’s some clever science around it, but I’m convinced there’s something in the way our brains process sound that triggers a calming response to the sound frequencies of waves crashing and water flowing.

I’m not some nature guru telling you to move out by the sea. I do think though, that much in life we call ‘busyness’, we put on ourselves. OK, I know there’s always lots to do. But how easy is it for busyness to run our lives? Does ‘doing stuff’ sometimes feel way more important than spending quality time with our families?

Your thoughts?

EDIT: There’s a nice site here that Emilie (@sisarqua) shared with me that just plays chill out sounds.. one of which is the sounds of waves. Not quite the same, but a nice replacement 🙂

James x