There Will Always Be Sharks in the Water

I absolutely love summer. I think it’s because I was born in July (Happy Birthday to me!) I thrive in hot weather, and I enjoy getting a tan, working up a sweat on a run, cooling off in the pool and drinking margaritas. I especially love summer because that’s when we travel to Hilton Head Island. It’s the only place on Earth where I can truly relax, unwind and worry less. However, this year on vacation I had a lot on my mind. I was thinking about the blog. My first post was five days before we left on our trip, and I wondered “Is anyone reading this?” I was also a bit stressed because I promised myself I would post every Monday, and that meant I would have to do so while on vacation. Was this even the right time to start a blog? If you’re open to it, life will give you the answers you need, even when you aren’t actively looking. And that’s how I realized there will always be sharks in the water.

We purchased stand up paddle boards for our beach trip last summer, and we got hooked. It’s physically challenging, but so rewarding when you paddle out into the ocean and it’s just you and the waves. It’s amazing how quiet it is out there. This year we were lucky and saw a lot of dolphins. Unfortunately where there are dolphins, there are also schools of fish, and that means sharks. We’ve seen sharks in Hilton Head before, but never while paddle boarding. 

Every morning on this trip my husband would head down to the beach, paddle out, and wait for me to join him. Twice that week I managed to reach him at the exact same time the sharks decided to come out and play. I’m not talking about huge sharks; they were only about three to four feet long, but a shark is a shark. And no matter how big or small, the teeth are just as sharp, right? The first time it happened, I high tailed it out of there. I was like an olympic rower going for gold. But when it happened the second time, I thought about it for a minute. The sharks are there, whether I can see them or not. I had a choice; I could leave again and miss out on an incredible experience or face my fears and stay. 

I stayed in the water that morning, sharks and all. I had to play some serious mind games to get myself through it. Just like when I published this blog. Was the timing perfect? Did I know everything there was to know about writing a blog? Definitely not. But if I waited for that to happen, I’d still be thinking about it, instead of actually writing it. And life is so much better when you take the plunge, rather than simply watching from the shoreline.