Four Kids and a PhD Mama: Beaches and Mountains

It's always a debate:

Beaches or Mountains?

Me? I considered myself both. I love the water and the beach, but there's something amazing about being up in the mountains and the solitude. So, like other deceptively simple questions it defied me. That is until this past summer where I had time to spend at the beach after just having had that little bit of time up in the mountains backpacking.

I had the opportunity to be a beach bum this summer. Lounging, reading, napping and enjoying the sun, sand and surf; it sounded like heaven. It was wonderful, restful and a chance for me to just be. I enjoyed my time on the beach, listening to the waves and soaking up the sun. I enjoyed swimming in the ocean and being carried by the salt and the waves. I stood knee deep and focused on the horizon line in a contemplative state, trying to recreate the meditative state I was able to achieve last year at the beach. Surprisingly, it never arrived.

I was confused. I tended to consider myself more of a "beach" person than a mountains person, but I wasn't finding that inner peace that I had previously. Sure, I was able to meditate, cleanse and reset, but it wasn't grounding. I found myself looking back to that weekend backpacking and my weekend trip to western Massachusetts, and in those thoughts I felt centered, grounded.

Now I was really confused. How could I feel more centered and grounded with my thoughts than actually being in the place that I thought was a grounding point? It was pure craziness. I spent my time reflecting on those differences, trying to reason and logic may way around things. Anyone who knows about these things know that logic and reason doesn't always prevail- it's what speaks to you and touches you that is important. But, me being me needed to analyze it all, understand it all. As I was seeking to understand it I grew to understand a few things.

I am connected to the water. I always will be. There's something about the rhythmic sounds of the waves or the melody of the river that will call to me. The sunshine reflecting off the water that creates a unique beauty all to its own.
There can be peace at the beach. I can rest, recover and heal at the beach.
There's something unique about the mountains that isn't found at the beach.
The mountains speak to me and my soul and it is here that I am grounded and at peace.

All of this was reconfirmed upon my recent vacation. We did not go to the beach, but the mountains, both the Great Smokies and the Blue Ridge mountains. While we were blessed to spend a day rafting down the New River in West Virginia and playing at Summersvillle Lake, my soul wasn't peaceful until we were up in Shenandoah sleeping at the top of Loft Mountain and hiking along it. Despite the chaos of hiking with 4 noisy children I found points where I was centered, at peace and grounded. Mountains are my grounding point and soul place, while the beach is blissful, it does not and cannot rejuvenate me like the mountains. It's now knowing that I can seek true healing in the mountains to find myself again.