085: What's On Your Horizon Could Be a Gift as You Age

It's amazing how staring at the endless horizon keeps things aligned.

Life and legacy become clearer when you get away physically or mentally from all that obstructs your view.

Our immediate family - including daughters, son-in-law, and grandkids - enjoyed that experience on our recent beach vacation.

Back to horizon gazing, the beach is my obvious choice.

Staying centered and keeping life in perspective requires an occasional reset - however you do it.

As you age, a beneficial horizon gaze helps remind you that you're still small (and here) in the grand scheme of life.

Of course, there's more to enjoy on the beach.

There's sun and sand, clouds and storms (yes, there's a take-away or two), along with waves and tides.

Those are analogous to me in practical ways.

It's easy to miss the deeper messages if you take your environment for granted.

Choose your take-aways wherever you are and let the discoveries renew your perspective

Shared perspective is helpful.

Whether you set foot on the beach or you live vicariously through my experience, there's useful insights to be gained.

And some are especially beneficial to your aging journey.

• Bask in what refreshes you
• Accept the inevitable
• Trust the process of change and renewal

Bask in what refreshes you

I’m a major fan of sun and sand.

I make no apologies for that.

Some see sand - beach or otherwise - as irritating.

I get it.

You go to the beach and the sand follows you everywhere (I vacuumed an amount out of my Jeep upon returning home).

But like the waves lapping on the beach, I find sand a welcome break from the concrete world we typically live and walk on.

And the sun, well...in measured amounts it delivers beneficial and healthy amounts of natural Vitamin D.

Beyond the physical aspect of sun and sand it's the emotional boost that does my soul good.

You don't need to travel to a beach locale to bask in what refreshes (though i recommend it when possible).

• Step away from your routine on occasion: take an alternate route, try a new food or beverage, listen to a new music genre, watch an off-the-beaten path documentary.
• Step into a more illuminating mindset: filter your inputs from news, social media, and other's viewpoints.
• Step around emotional debris: listen but refuse to be burdened by the problems, issues, or drama that's out of your control.

Deal with inevitabilities

It's rare to spend a day at the beach that clouds or a passing storm doesn't interrupt your sun and sand time.

Our family has grown accustomed through the years to the reality that clouds and even storms are gonna form.

But an equal reality is that (for the most part) they pass.

Inevitabilities create delays but they often cycle in favorable ways.

• Expect an occasional storm in your life with the knowledge that it will pass.
• Ask what instead of why - there's a potential message of hope in the chaos.
• Believe - the act of faith overcomes even the smallest or insignificant irritation (or inevitability).

Trust the process of change and renewal

Perhaps the most rewarding take-away from time on the beach for me is the power of the waves and the changing tides.

Tidal movement ebbs and flows according to environmental factors (too complex to address here but nonetheless fascinating).

Waves and tides are the ocean's way of keeping things moving and renewed.

Write your name in the sand at the waters edge or build a sand castle and the eventual surge of waves and tides will casually carry them away as if they never existed.

Renewal is innate in nature as it should be within you and I.

• Live more intentionally knowing that the ability to change gives you room to grow and even fail when necessary.
• Say something, share something, do something even though you know the outcome might be different with every effort you make.
• Accept the shifting tides in your life knowing that it could be an opportunity for growth.

Wherever you are, the horizon in front of you is full of take-aways that only the aware will see - so why not take it all in?

• Bask in what refreshes you
• Deal with inevitabilities
• Trust the process of change and renewal

Press on...

Eddie