The Beach Speaks

Be Water, My Friend: My Relationship with the Ocean and How Water Has Shaped My Life

• Paige Friend

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I was a guest on an Instagram live with Amanda from Northern TIdes Studio and Wallace J. Nichols, author of Blue Mind - talking about water, the Blue Mind movement, and the healing properties of the ocean.

 Amanda asked how living at the beach has changed me. I don’t know why that question caught me off guard - it was a great question. I wasn’t really sure I had the answer - at least nothing I felt I could articulate at the moment.  

If I had the chance to answer the question again, I would say that although I have always felt a connection to the beach and the ocean - now that I live here - we’ve bonded - we’re in a relationship.    

In 2020 when the world took a collective pause, I had a lot of time to sit at the beach alone, to listen, and think about the podcast and how I wanted it to grow. 

I needed to connect with other beach lovers, and since no one was meeting in person, I went to the next best thing - Facebook.  I found the group “I Love the Beach” and posted a question: “What do you love most about the beach?” minutes later, a flood of responses appeared in the comments.

Most comments were about how peaceful, soothing, or healing it felt to be at the beach. And I certainly could relate to that.

But what stood out to me was that nearly everyone said something about the ocean - the water. 

I could definitely relate! That’s what I love most about the beach  -  the water  - - there’s a sense of comfort and belonging -  it feels like “home.”

I felt compelled to tell a story about this relationship with water, but honestly, I didn’t know what story to tell. I made a list: 

Learning to swim by jumping into the deep end of a pool
My first trip to the ocean
Growing up in a house across the street from the river
Sunday afternoon hikes in the woods along a stream
Swim Team . . .

I never really thought about its significance, but being a swim team member was a significant part of my formative years, and that’s when my relationship with water really began. 

Listen as I recall my childhood swim team experience: from making the big shift from being an “OK” sprinter to a long-distance “Champion" and how water saved me from drowning from the pressures of college life and beyond.


What influence has water had in your life? Has it made you happier? Healthier? More connected?

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Be water, my friend.”
 ~ Bruce Lee



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