Savoring | The Colorful Beauty That Beach Trash Brings
Last October, we went to Panama City Beach for one last beach trip before the cold of winter season started to roll in.
We usually go to Destin, and stay at our favorite hotel, but because this was a last minute trip, we could only find a condo to stay in Panama City.
I wasn’t that thrilled, because Destin is my favorite and, in my opinion, has THE BEST colorful water, but, anywhere in the Panhandle, with all that soft, white colored sand is A-OK in my book…even if I still missed Destin! ;)
OMG! That sand!! I grew up in south Florida on the east coast where the sand is super gritty and thick and sticks to you. I loved going to the beach on the east coast, but now, I’m officially in love with this area for beach trips!! I never want to go back to the east coast beaches now in Florida. Ha! The sand is SO soft and SO white and doesn’t stick to you at all. It’s AWESOME!!
And being this close to the water…OMG!!!
It really was SO nice and it turned out to be absolutely AMAZING!!
So, of course, I got all my typical beach pics.
But on our first full day, I was sitting out on the balcony and as I was looking down, I thought…
“Wow! It’s SO cool seeing this view from up here with all the hotel umbrella’s out and we never saw views like this in Destin.”
“I mean, it really is a work of art and really should be appreciated more.”
“If only we could live our lives as airline pilots or be a drone everyday so we could get the views from the ground AND up above like this.”
“I mean…it really is awesome! ”
I’m always SO amazed of how Earth looks from above. Everything is perfectly lined up and truly looks so neat and orderly. It’s stunning!
I SO need to get myself a drone!!! OMG!! For reals!!!
I ended up snapping my picture with my iPhone and then I sat back down to enjoy looking back out at the beautiful ocean again.
Then I heard some noise and I got up again and looked down and I was like…
OMG!!!!!! All that beach trash looks SO freakin’ cool!! I gotta take a picture!!
And oh my gosh I got SO excited!!
It just looked SO cool!
As I kept watching and snapping I was just so in awe and SO lit up!!!
All that beach trash they were picking up was SO COLORFUL!!!
Like, who knew trash was this beautiful!?! Not me!!
All those cans, beach chairs and floats…and even the way the guys were on the side of the truck picking up each can and dumping it in as they were moving right along to each can at a slow pace and never stopping…just lit me up and was making me smile BIG!!
I’ve never seen trash in this way before and it was beautiful!!
It made me aware, again, that there IS beauty EVERYWHERE…even in things that I wouldn’t even consider beautiful.
Looking out at the ocean…yes…pure beauty!!
Looking at trash! Oh, heck no! There’s NO beauty in that!
Right!?
Well…not anymore! Ha!
I now SEE the beauty in it and I now look at trash SO, SO differently!
Trash really is just COLOR put together in one big pile. It can be filled with toxicity, but, overall, it really is beautiful.
Just like in life. Life is filled with COLOR…and some of that color can be toxic, but over all, when I sit back and take it all in and really look at LIFE surrounding me…the beauty and the toxicity…it really is absolutely beautiful.
Beauty isn’t only in certain areas…like beach sunrises, beach sunsets and ocean water.
Beauty is everywhere!!
Even in places unexpected!
But when life gets hard, it’s easy for me to need help SEEing that and staying connected to that.
So when I look at this moment that I was meant to SEE and capture, while admiring the beauty of the ocean right in front me, I’m reminded of how amazing life works.
Just when I think I have life all figured out, like yeah…there’s only beauty in the ocean and there’s absolutely no beauty in trash (ewww…yuck..that stinks!!).
Something comes along to tell me differently and to wake me up even more and to teach me a brand new way, a new perspective, to SEE even more life beauty that surrounds me, that I never, ever saw before.
And that’s the absolute beauty of life…no matter the age, there’s always a lesson to learn and something to be more aware of and connected to.
Beauty isn’t only found in what is considered beautiful…beauty is found everywhere!! Even in things that aren’t considered beautiful…hence the word…trash! Ha!
I AM SOUL GRATEFUL for this connection and new found awareness!
Because, now, when I see trash, all I see is COLOR!
LOTS of beautiful COLOR!!!
And that makes me feel good!!
Because all that COLORFUL trash reminds me that even in toxic moments in my life…toxic moments that can bring me down and make me feel stuck and negative and have me thinking my life sucks…COLOR is ALWAYS there!!
I may not see it in that toxic moment, but, eventually, it will shine through at the most perfect time for me and I will SEE and connect to the lesson it’s trying to teach me (or what I like to say….what COLOR is trying to teach me!)!!
At a time when I’m ready to see it!
And on this day, I was ready to see it and connect to this COLORFUL trash lesson!!
That life really isn’t as bad as I think it is.
Yes, there are moments that are toxic and SO full of trash that I just want to throw away and get rid of and never see again.
But it’s those toxic, trash moments that help me connect to who I am, that teach me lessons that I need to help me grow, that help me to connect more to what I love and what I don’t love, to help me know how I want to be treated and how I don’t want to be treated, and most of all, that have helped me grow into a STRONG, independent woman!
All of those toxic, trash moments may not seem good at the time, but in the end, when I look back on them, they are GOOD, because they connect ME to all the beautiful COLOR that lives inside of me AND all the beautiful COLOR that lives outside of me!
All those toxic and trash moments help connect ME to ME, help ME GROW more and more into who I AM and who I want to BE, help me connect more to what I LOVE (and don’t love!) and help me make decisions based on how I want to feel and don’t want to feel and gosh, there’s SO much GOOD in that!!!
LIFE IS absolutely COLORFUL!!!
But, most of all, like Nightbirde says, “life is beautiful AND life is garbage!!” Yes! Yes! Yes!!
Everything here on this planet, good…bad…happy…sad…that surrounds me all day, every day, is a reminder of just that!!
It’s ALL part of being a COLORFUL human being!!
There is COLOR in EVERYTHING!!! In the beautiful AND the garbage.
Which can definitely be hard to see at times because garbage does NOT feel good at all…but it definitely brings my inner COLOR and inner strength and inner growth and inner BEAUTY out in the end!
I can’t SEE the beauty of the world without pain!.
I just gotta slow down, calm my mind and take a breather to truly SEE it!!
Like I did on this day, out on the balcony, being present with the ocean and all the ocean/beach sounds that come with it, that was right in front me.
Oh, gosh!! SO freakin’ cool!!
I needed this reminder, BIG TIME!!
Thank you, Universe!!
I AM SOUL GRATEFUL!!
Now…take me back to the beach to see all that BEAUTIFUL COLOR that the ocean AND the trash brings!!!
I’m ready!!
And, gosh!! I love it when life works in mysterious ways like this!
So, so awesome!!
Until next time…
See something that makes you stop and smile. Grab your camera!! It'll slow you down, pull you into the present moment even more and have you SAVORing your JOY feeling even more!! And most of all, it'll connect you to your soul so you can SEE and HEAR the things that you may have passed by (like your kids last day of school!). The camera...it's powerful...especially when it comes to FEELING JOY and BEing more PRESENT! :)
That's WHY I take pictures!! The camera is one of my favorite creative tools that easily pulls me out of my frazzled + overwhelmed head so I can fully SAVOR (the feeling of) everything that makes me stop, smile and lights me UP with LOVE (something that's hard for me to do when my mind is running 100 miles ahead or behind the present moment)
