Lessons from the ocean for creative living

Me happily communing with the sea

I turned 50 this year, and celebrated by giving myself lots of little treats.

One of them was a trip to the ocean. Nothing fancy, just a midweek overnight a few hours away. I stayed at a super-modest motel right on the beach, where I fell asleep to the sound of waves crashing, and woke up to the sunrise over the sea.

Heaven.

Sometimes the ocean calls to me (me and Moana both, I guess!) and I have learned to heed its call.

I’m never sorry I did.

I found myself thinking of the sea this past week, as a theme emerged in my conversations with clients. That theme: The power of holding our decisions lightly.

Let me explain.

Imagine you’re grappling with a decision. Chances are, it won’t be hard for you to conjure this scenario — you’re probably grappling with a decision right now. Maybe something like:

• Whether to apply for the job

• Whether to have the difficult conversation

• Whether to take the class, attend the event, submit the talk

Here’s my invitation:

Hold this decision lightly.

Our tendency is to bear down when we’re making a choice about something, to apply pressure to “get it right.”

But what if there is no “right”?

What if there is only this choice, and the next?

If you’re feeling tense about a decision, try zooming out, and reminding yourself that life is always unfolding, which means that every decision both matters, and doesn't matter:

• Every decision matters, because it has consequences... sure.

• And, every decision doesn't matter, because: 1) the universe moves in mysterious ways, so you can't control the outcome, no matter how much intelligence you bring to your decision-making, and 2) as soon you make one decision, it's time to make another one.
  
  Life keeps going. You get to (have to) (get to) choose again.

Here’s where the ocean comes in:

Treating every single decision as monumental — making the stakes so high around getting it “right” — is like paddling into the ocean on a boogie board, and making it Very Important to predict exactly how to position yourself to ride a certain wave.

I'm not saying you shouldn't try to ride it.

But why make it everything, when there is always a next wave, and a next wave, and a next wave?

Why put so much power into the outcome of a single wave, when you are standing in the sea?

—

Hi! I’m Amanda Hirsch, founder of Mighty Forces, a community that knows how to support creative people so they can do what matters to them most. Wanna learn more? Schedule a virtual coffee date with me!