There are few things that calm me more than a trip to the beach, and I really needed one when we went last weekend. I’ve felt surrounded by high adrenaline rushes, and incredibly stressful situations for months and was itching for a chance to just lie down, feel the sand between my toes, while drinking a cold beverage. I didn’t even want to do anything in terms of physical activity. I made sure I had a good book stored on my Nook, a decent sarong to lie down in, cold beer from the nearby store and a wide variety of chips and sweets to keep me company while the other people I was ran after a good high, surfing.I admit I did felt a bit of temptation when I saw the quality of waves that day, a constant arrival of surf quality waves, and not a lot of people to plow into, but my inner hippie won out and I laid back and enjoyed my post adolescent third Percy Jackson second volume book.

In that moment, the serenity I felt made up for the past few months of my life, with everything and everyone pulling me in all directions, sometimes good and sometimes horrible. The blank slate of not worrying about this or that made me so thankful that I had the chance to do that this weekend. A good way to go before everything goes full throttle this next few months, whether it be personal or work wise.

Sometimes we just need to be in a place that gives us peace, and for this girl, the smell of saltwater, that rough texture of sand granules between my toes, the crash of the waves on the shore, is my happy place.

Where’s yours?