The Day My Writing Practice Took a Slight Detour

I feel fortunate in life to live just a couple of blocks up from the beach. The beach is my happy place. Some days, and even more so when the weather is beautiful, I will push myself to take a slow walk down and sit and practise some of my writing exercises. And when I say: push myself, I’m embarrassed this may come across as taking where I live for granted or even laziness. But truthfully, it’s more about my procrastination.

When I nestle myself into a spot that feels comfortable for the prospect of sitting for a time, I forget all about the writing and get lost in admiring the infinite blue horizon. My thoughts roll over and contemplate the idea that I am standing on one of the zillions of planets, which is placed amid an ever-expanding universe. It humbly grounds me, and my faith is restored in the notion of miracles once again, seeing as I am standing on one.

A few May’s back, my writing practice down at the beach turned out to be quite remarkable. I had walked down in a low mood, but I forced myself to go and discovered the perfect place to park myself. As usual, I dithered in the writing and glanced down at the water for inspiration.

I immediately noticed something peculiar floating on the water. I squeezed my eyes in the hopes of achieving a sharper vision of what it could be. It looked very much like an item of clothing. A concern sparked within me, and so I kept my eyes fixed on this drifting object, determined to work out what it was and why it was odd in its entirety. I needed to establish it wasn't a floating body, as it kind of looked like one.

Maybe it was moving too fast if it really was a body? I almost gave up looking; I really had to get back to my writing, and just at that thought, out of the corner of my eye, I clocked a man sprinting across the stones. He had his phone out as if ready to take a photo, and so then I just knew in my gut whatever I saw was something special.

I threw my belongings into my bag and staggered across the pebbles as I tried to run down closer to the water’s edge. I ran up to the man asking what it was, and yet at that point, I could see clearly the most beautiful seal appear in front of me. There he was, shiny and ebony-black, with just the prettiest face. He was ducking and gliding and had caught a crab for his lunch. He playfully tossed it up into the air, bobbing it up and down with his snout.

I was in deep awe and fumbled with my phone to try to capture an image of this fine black beauty. It was difficult as he swam at lightning speed and with such smooth, athletic precision.

My frantic dashing across each beach section was attracting crowds of beach lovers, who were sitting and standing in small groups. They followed my gaze and composure, and were as delighted in the seal's rare appearance.

I was high on adrenaline, elated, and felt in my soul a long-lost childlike happiness. My smile was beaming from the inside out. These things don’t normally happen on Hove Beach. Still, years back, I had witnessed a man who was clearly off his head on something hallucinogenic and being hotly pursued down into the water by two police officers. But this didn’t feel quite the same as my seal.

In all of this, I had assumed I had experienced something rare in witnessing this seal in the water, and it was for me. Still, when I arrived home, I googled and discovered an article in our local paper to confirm there had been previous sightings of two seals who had ‘moved into the area’. They appear to love our beach and our city’s cool vibes as much as we do. I was elated and thanked God for His awesomeness.

Writing practice

Today I am at the beach; however, no seals are in sight. I start to write, and I realise even without the unusually exciting experiences that spontaneously happen, we can search for the beautiful in our everyday lives. The sun warmly envelopes me as I start to let my first thoughts flow. I look around to see what I can create through my words. A picture, in which I can add and build, elaborating and transforming my ordinary experiences into timeless masterpieces.

Thank you for reading

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