Swish swish swash goes the washing machine.
I wish there was a course offered in college on how to survive your 20s. Well, from what I hear, there should be manuals on how to survive every decade of your life. As one of my close friends and mentors would say, “Kristen, it is just another AFGE”.
AFGwhat??
“Another F* Growing Experience”
With the highs come the lows, and although I much prefer the highs, those pesky low moments help to define us. My life at times may feel like a washing machine, but at the end I will come out clean and ready to be fashioned to the world again, right?
Thankfully, I have been fortunate to have found some “therapy” called yoga and surfing to deal with this washing machine. I pretty much fell into practicing yoga and although I never believed calming my mind and practicing patience would be just what the doctor ordered, flowing on the mat helps to clear my head and keep my mind open to new things that I never knew existed. And sitting on my surfboard, well, I just feel at home on that thing. So when I came across a passage in the book Kook by Peter Heller that described surfing and yoga, it helped to put into words what these two do for me. Heller writes,
“We need surf, or dance, or yoga, because it reconnects us with our animal bodies. For a little while we practice moving through the world with rhythm, with an intention, of efficiency and power. Without it, we become just a bunch of walking heads.”
For me, yoga and surfing are expressions of my true self. They help me to get through the lows, achiever higher highs, guide me to find my true inner self, and gives me confidence to spread my wings.
So whatever it is that helps you deal with your washing machine, as Florence and the Machine would say,”it is always darkest before the dawn, it’s hard to dance with a devil on your back, so shake him off, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out”. Don’t be afraid to recognize the signs and take a chance.
XOs
Kristen