Throw Out The Life Raft, You Know How To Swim

We all have these moments in life where we feel helpless.

Moments when we feel like we’re drowning.

Moments when we are looking for a life raft, but nothing is within reach.

Tonight I realized that recently, I almost let myself become one of those girls who needs a man to complete her. Someone who clings to a life­raft to keep her above water. Something to help her through the chaos and trials of life. Not because she can’t swim, but because it seems easier to make it over the rough caps of the ocean waves when one has a raft than when one has to keep their head above water unassisted.

But tonight, I’ve also remembered something important:

I know how to float, so when I’m tired of treading water, I won’t let myself get sucked back in. I’ll be able to hold myself up above the sea, until I am able to keep going.

And most importantly, I know how to swim. So eventually, I’ll make it to dry land.

And once I’ve made it there, to my island, I’ll have been made new. Stronger, wiser, unique to anyone else because the waves have shaped me.

They have hit me hard with every stroke, forcing me to adapt to their force, to pace myself appropriately, to learn and create new techniques to overcome every single challenge.

I’ll have been shaped like the coral in the deep sea, constantly brushed by the currents. Like the rocks eroding on the ocean’s shore, hit daily by the rollers and yet still standing strong.

It’s the tidal waves of life that help us to realize what we are truly capable of. Those giant waves cause a lot of damage to what is, but make room for the reformation to what will be.

Once you realize this, you’ll see that the biggest adversities in our lives are what mold us into the strongest, most beautiful version of ourselves. Independent, lustrous, and resolute; facing the water we’ve come through and looking at the riptides with a knowing appreciation.