Summer memories

©Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Summer memories are perhaps the strongest ones you create. Because they are born during a period when you are the most relaxed, bursting to enjoy every minute of free time you have amidst the shadow of a tough winter arriving.

Summer is almost synonymous with the beach – sand, sea, sun, and seashells.

The most wonderful souvenirs are usually these: a sun-kissed tan, a bright smile, and seashells from anywhere you’ve been.

Regardless of being the outer protective layer of the animal that once inhabited them, seashells are believed to attract good luck, wealth, and prosperity, while reminding you of serenity.

Also part of Friday Fictioneers

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Sleep on it

There are many reasons to list as to what keeps you up at night. Environmental factors, too much stress, over-exposure to screens, jet lag, heavy food, medicine, or uncomfortable conditions are among them.

Romanticists claim you lie awake because you appear in someone else’s dream.

But in essence, we can’t sleep because we subconsciously burden ourselves with too many thoughts. We won’t allow ourselves to let go of everything that troubles our brains during the day. Consequently, we can’t find that much required peace to relax, to breathe out and alleviate the pressure we exert on ourselves.

We need constructive outlets to enable our minds to wander. To stop thinking for a while. To simply get lost in the moment.

Some would suggest meditation, but that’s not as easy as it sounds, and it requires great effort.

A more feasible solution is a walk on the beach, or even a dive into the sea. Salty water helps in washing away the problems, which we often create ourselves. It will get us feeling refreshed, relaxed, and revived. An essential process in assisting us to gather the courage to face everything that is causing us the initial stress.

We need to find time to escape our worries, if we are to find the strength to effectively deal with them. We can’t sleep on the decisions we need to make, if we can’t fall asleep to begin with.

The guesthouse on the ocean

©MCD_Monembasia

From the minute they stepped into that guesthouse their stress and worries had flown away. In some magical way, reality had become part of a distant past, of some parallel universe that right now seemed far far away.

It was exactly what they needed after a hectic, stifling few months. To escape the world. And this seemed the perfect place to do it.

He was already up when she opened her eyes and breathed in that salty smell of the ocean surrounding them.

He was sitting outside half-naked gazing over the horizon. Dreaming. Setting goals. He seemed more relaxed than ever. She walked out in a short satin robe. The smile that covered his face as he turned and saw her was enough to keep her warm despite the chilly morning breeze.

He pulled her onto his lap and they sat there, saying nothing, daydreaming across the waves.

It was ideal.

So much, no words were needed to compliment the occasion. Perhaps there were no words suitable enough either.

We all need a place to get lost. But what makes it even greater is having the right person to share it all with. Even in silence and the simple gestures that say it all.

Summer life

©MCD

Once June came, he would transfer to the beach house. He longed for those months there. Everything seemed so much better then.

It wasn’t just because it was summer and the weather was warmer, the days were longer and everyone seemed happier.

At the beach, people tend to worry less. It is as if they somehow realise that the meaning of life is to live it, not overanalyse it.

His father once told him that “at the beach, life is different. Time doesn’t move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides and follow the sun”.

Magically, a solution to every problem appeared during his walks at the beach. His mind calmed down during sunset. And at night, when the only thing to be heard was the silent ebb and flow of the waves while gazing at a star-filled sky, he felt so much stronger, optimistic and…alive.

Deep breaths without a time limit

When the temperature hits 40 degrees Celsius, you can feel your heartbeat slowing down. You can feel that you’re drifting into a state of daze, of an almost apathy, being struck by drowsiness and that summer laziness you long for all year round. It is precisely at that moment when all you want is to lie on a sunbed with the sea at your feet and think of nothing. Because even that takes too much energy, which right now you don’t have.

It is that summer heat that affects you to actually slow down. To take life as it goes, because “if it will happen, it will on its own”. Those lethargic days when you need to do nothing. To simply enjoy those little things life has to offer, soaking up the moments that fill your heart and engaging in often irrational conversations with the people you love. Because in essence, these are the things that make you smile. And when you smile, the whole world seems brighter. Even after the sun sets.

We all need to relish those few days. To know the difference between working stressfully and running around in a hectic non-stop, and when to relax, take things easier and let some slide.

It’s difficult letting go, even just for a moment. But when you do, you will only wonder why you hadn’t done so sooner. It feels like a weight was lifted off your lungs and you can finally breathe again.

So go ahead, slow down a bit. Take a look at the beauty surrounding you, talk to the people around you, take a nap, go for a walk, read a book, listen to music, just sit in silence with good company. Do all the things you mentally list in your head for when you have time, or do absolutely nothing at all. But whatever you choose to do, make sure it makes you happy. Because in the end, that’s all that matters.

 

Also part of Daily Prompt: Slowly

Free and Gone

It’s hard feeling unable to concentrate and drifting away into a world that doesn’t exist in reality.

Zelena knew that feeling well. She was not tall like the other kids her age; she lacked the confidence young adults so boldly proclaim; and she often perceived the world much differently than others tend to. Having a name that began with the last letter of the alphabet often did not help at all. She was always last on the list.

So she found an escape in daydreaming.

She could do this anywhere and at pretty much anytime.

Like the other day when she was sitting by the window, rolled up in a cozy armchair when it was pouring outside. In her head, she was living an adventure in a mountain with real friends and they were going on excavations for a lost medallion that would bring power to the person who wore it, as long as their heart was pure. The cabin was a wreck and they had to take cover from the thunderstorm and rain. And suddenly, the bad people (there are always some of these in every story) tracked them down and they had to hide. And the adventure ensued…. Well, until dinnertime. Food had to disrupt the dream.

In the summer, when the stifling heat and humidity did not permit for a lot of time outside, Zelena would lie on the cool sheets in her bed and as the fan cooled her down, she would dream of being on an exotic Caribbean island, swaying on a hammock and indulging on a tropical iced juice.

A little while later she would spin off, bare feet in the golden sand tickling her toes, and she would rush playfully towards the tide into the arms of the man she loved. They would swim together into the tranquil ocean; snorkel to gaze at the fish and corals that decorated the ocean’s depth; and even play around with a couple of dolphins that would join the fun.

Daydreaming was Zelena’s thing. And it all seemed so real. So true. So different from the world she lived in. In her fantasies, Zelena could do and be exactly what and who she wanted. Without restrictions, without concerns, without limitations.

The only problem was that she could get so enraptured in a dream, feel it was so real, that she could not tell the difference between the dream and the real world. Something like being caught in The Matrix. Only maybe worse, because even that was a fantasy.

“Getting lost into something that is not real will make you lose yourself.” That it was her beloved uncle told her. He was the one who made her fantasies so real, for she grew up with his exciting, swash-buckling stories.

Zelena did not pay attention to the severity of the warning. When she had been unemployed for over a year, still living in her childhood room, and still dreaming of what she wished her life was like, Zelena disappeared.

Her final daydream was of bungee jumping over a cliff to feel the freedom and adrenaline rush of flying.

Love is an island

Every now and again everyone needs to get away for a while. From the routine, the noise, the crowds, the hectic lifestyle, the stress, the things that simply aggravate you. You need to devote some time to yourself, to things and people you love, and most of all to relax and rediscover the beauty of life.

What better place to do so than on a beautiful Greek island just an hour away from the bustling capital city, Athens?

Islands like Aegina offer you the getaway you long for since the start of each week. And it is close enough that you can decide to go for the weekend only a few hours before jumping on the ship. Watching the waves foam as the ship skids through the ocean leaving the city behind, you can feel your shoulders lighten a little as you leave your troubles behind.

Calmly sliding through tranquil waters, you can already feel the anticipation of what awaits you on the island – sun, sea and relaxation.

Even the seagulls can sense it and come to escort you into port as a VIP entrance should be!

And then you reach the marina. That awesome place with all these shiny white yachts finely lined up for you to gaze and wish you owned the one on the right, between the two smaller ones, that one with the large mast and sail.

Being on an island – a small one that is, no matter for how long, makes you wish your life was as relaxed and carefree as the days you spend there.

Taking long strolls along the golden beaches and watching your feet sink into the sand.
Watching the sunset in the arms of your loved one.

Having a drink and a snack at wonderful, picturesque villages.

Enjoying a carriage ride by a horse you just met and became friends with before taking you around to see amazing old manor houses that even featured in a movie.

Re-discovering the joys of life, simply by forgetting that every day needs to have a schedule and a to-do list.

Love is like an island. Endless, calm, and ready to embrace you as soon as you set foot there.

With friendly smiles greeting you immediately and conversations that can start as easily as you take a breath, it makes you wonder why exactly it is that you live in a busy city where you are constantly pushed and shoved around and not there – there where you walk into the supermarket and the next time you go the cashier even remembers your name. Where you are given discounts simply because you engaged in an amusing conversation with the proprietor. Where you make friends that are always ready to welcome you back.

We all need a sanctuary to recharge our batteries. To re-energise us, at the same time as it calms us down. To remind us that life is not as hard as we all make it out to be. It’s just that we have forgotten how to live.

 

N.B. All photos are mine taken on the island of Aegina on 03-04 May 2014

P.S. This is my 200^th blog post!