SOMETHING ABOUT THE OCEAN….

“When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused” – Rainer Maria Rilke

The ocean is my safe haven.

There’s this peaceful feeling I get whenever I am walking on the beach sand, feeling my feet sink in the sand while listening to the roar of the ocean waves.

The ocean has a way of keeping me sane and safe. I forget my worries, forget the world and just lose myself in the moment watching the mass of water dance. I’m so obsessed with the water. I feel so peaceful and at home by the ocean.

“There’s something about the ocean that makes everything better or at least makes life just a bit more clear’ - Unknown

I was going to say if I lived in a State where there is an ocean, I’d visit it daily. But then I remembered I once lived in Lagos State where there’s enough ocean around but I barely visited. Even when the then bar beach (before Eko Atlantic project came up) was right behind my house, the best I did was enjoy the view of the ocean from my room window.  I can’t tell exactly why I didn’t go often, probably because I felt it would always be around. When we have something readily around we tend not to value it. (Same thing I’m doing with the two large mango trees in my compound).

“The ocean makes me feel really small and it makes me put my whole life into perspective…it humbles you and makes you feel almost like you’ve been baptized. I feel born again when I get out of the ocean” – Beyonce Knowles.

We have this ideal picture of how we want our lives to be or we once had it when we were much younger. But adulthood is so much different. Things don’t really work out the way we plan, or do they? When I’m at the ocean, I get perspective, I’m in a different realm. So much clarity, I get to live the live I envisage for myself (even if it’s all in my head).

  

“Because there’s nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline, no matter how many times it’s sent away.” – Sarah Kay

Left to me, I’d love to live by the ocean. Have the sea sing me a lullaby every night. A simple house by the ocean where I can take long walks, have peaceful time with myself and allow my thoughts wander.

“The waves of the sea help me get back to me” – Jill Davis

Nigerians love noise. They always try to spoil my beach experience with loud party music. I hate crowd and I get very shy when I get in the midst of strangers. Once I get to the beach, I stroll to the side that's not crowded, look for a spot and stay on my own or with whomever I am with.

Maybe next time I’ll take my ear piece so I can play the right kind of slow melancholic music that should be played when on a beach. I can imagine the perfect feeling listening to Oceans by Coldplay while sitting on a rock watching the ocean.

A beach should be a place of peace, solitude and tranquility. Melancholic music suits that kind of environment best and not noisy shitty music with cheaply written lyrics.

The ocean has a calming effect on me, then add that to the calm effect the songs have on me too. Perfect bliss. Once I set my eyes on the ocean, it’s like everything melts away.

“On the beach you can live in bliss” - Dennis Wilson

Writing this, imagining it, has brought a smile across my lips. I can already feel the peace. The ocean side is somewhere I get to really stay free of all my troubles and cares.

‘I get lost in the beauty of everything I see

The world ain’t half as bad as they make it to be…’ – Come Home by One Republic

There was a time I stayed a bit late into the evening on the beach. The sea breeze was everything. I just sat there taking in the air, allowing the water wash over my feet. It was a healing process. Something that beats me though is; why would someone go to a beach and not enter the water? I see people keeping their distance like they are afraid of the water. 

That’s like going to a cinema and then sleeping all through while the movie is on.

In my opinion, the best part of the whole beach experience is the water. The way the waves carry you, when the water touches your skin sending a cold chill down your body. It can be quite scary though. There’s this trick I discovered. When the waves washes over you, stay still as the water goes back to the sea. It’s when you try to run it carries you along easily. 

Well, the last time it almost didn’t work for me. I remember I was lying down on the sand when the waves came, I stayed put trying to dig my hands in the sand for support, but the current was too strong. I felt myself moving with the water. I started screaming ‘the water is carrying me’. My silly friend just stayed there snapping pictures. *sigh

Anyway I’m the one who wrote this so I’m still alive J

At that point though, I thought this is it. Death is here and I’m done.

I still don’t get why people who want to off themselves have to go through pain first. Like setting themselves on fire, or hanging themselves or going in front of a bus. The ocean is a perfect place to end it. Plug in your ear piece, listen to Midnight by Coldplay, down three bottles of liquor mixed with several sleeping pills by the sea, get high and sleep off as the breeze blows over your skin gently, nudging you to sleep as the pills kick in. The waves comes and washes your body into oblivion…

“If I die young

Bury me in satin

Lay me down on a bed of roses

Sink me in a river at dawn

Send me away with the words of a love song…’ – If I die young by The Band Perry

“The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea.” - Isak Dinesen.

I know lots of readers would cringe after reading the part about suicide. Nigerians though *sigh. Religion has done us a very bad one on us. Totally closed our minds and deformed our thinking.  Most times I feel like I don’t belong here, like I don’t fit in. I don’t know how I got so liberal or open minded. I remember my university classmate who had her wedding ceremony on the beach. Linda Ikeji carried it on her gossip/news blog and then the internet trolls came with heir superstitious comments that she made a wrong choice as she has opened the door, inviting marine spirits to her marriage. SMH!

Skinny dipping is something I’ll do someday but definitely not in this country. We are way too backwards to understand that nudity is art. Our over religiousness, hypocrisy and closed minds are just too much barrier for us to appreciate the simple things of life.

Sometimes I get lost in thought at sea. I just sit there not wanting the moment to end, like I could just stay there frozen in time or best relocate. Live a quiet, easy life by the ocean. Just me, music, laughter and my significant other by the sea.

Quit your job, buy a ticket, and get a tan, fall in love…never return