Inexplicable Nature provokes Humility

The air tastes crisp and salty, the water feels frigid, and the sound of the waves crashing fills your ears. Every sense in your body is being used. You feel amazing, alive, rejuvenated, and full of adrenaline and a healthy dose of fear. You are in the ocean, surfing, playing, and swimming. There are so many sounds, textures and feelings that go along with being surrounded by nature. Having knowledge that the natural elements of this world are infinitely more powerful than yourself is humbling and fascinating. Nothing computerized or plugged into a wall can compare. One day recently my best friend and I were heading home after surfing. We had just spent hours riding waves and in turn, being tossed around by the ocean. Our toes and ears were full of sand; our noses were full of salt water. We also had the biggest smiles on our faces. Something about being surrounded by that body of water, which is so powerful, so peaceful and steady, is amazing. You cannot come back from something like that with a negative thought on your mind. It inadvertently changes your mood, whether you like it or not. It calms you when you are mad, gives joy in hard times, and creates a beautiful, healthy emotional outlet for stress or anger. We were contemplating these things on our drive home and realized that experiences like ours, of being surrounded by nature, are what make us who we are. Almost every positive aspect of our lives we could trace back to some experience we had outdoors. The only reason we aren’t suffering from any self esteem issues, addictions, depression, overwhelming stress, loneliness and any other emotional or mental illness that our colleagues around us are suffering from is because we have a healthy recreational outlet in nature; which forces us to realize there is something bigger than ourselves. It helps anyone see a small glimpse of the bigger picture. Our own lives are not the center of anything and our own problems definitely don’t seem like they are the end of the world when you are outside playing in it.