Covid changed so many things. Or maybe it just brought about things we had suppressed or that had lain dormant for so long. We experienced fear and isolation. We were stuck inside unable to travel or see friends and family. Suddenly the world felt very small and confining.
There was a profound sense of loss. Lost time. Lost connections. Lost moments. But recently things have been opening up for us again. We can travel. See friends and family. We can experience the world again. We’ve been coming out of our cocoons one after another in a rolling reawakening to re-experience the world and each other.
This struck me last night as my family and I were at the beach looking for sea turtles. Kady was standing about twenty feet away on a massive black lava rock. I tried to yell something to her but she couldn’t hear me over the waves crashing all around us. The relentless surf blocked any sound I was trying to make. It made me pause and reflect.
The world was trying to speak to me. And it was telling me to be quiet. To listen. In this moment, you don’t need to be loud.
Sometimes when we can’t hear, the answer isn’t to shout louder. It’s to listen. Standing next to the Pacific reminded me of that. It’s undeniable vastness. The great expanse of water filled with more life than I could possibly imagine. Listen. Listen.
I wish I had written this last night. Right there on the beach. Because I was so inspired and so grateful. Grateful that after four years we were able to travel to one of the most beautiful places on earth and experience it together. Grateful for my children. For my wife. For our families. For the reminder that you can hear more through the water being dashed against the lava rock than you can when you try to drown out all the noise of life. You don’t need silence and perfection to listen. You just need to be present.
