Ever tried the beach?

[CeeBeeby]

I'd like to share my story with you regarding what I do in my spare time (which, living in solitude I have way too much of lol).

Roughly 4 1/2 years ago I was quite down and I mean really really down. I didn't go anywhere I didn't do anything I didn't speak to anybody and I just lost interest in life in general. I think at that point I realised I've reached my lowest app and I had to do something to stop myself from going insane. I mean seriously, my entire day consisted of laying on the settee worrying about when I would die or when my next palpitation would be. So I had to figure out something.

That's when I started going to the beach. I decided I was going to pick up rubbish just as a way to pass the time and do something slightly constructive in the process. when I go to the beach I actually started picking up rubbish but one thing I found more often than not was glass, all different kinds. Much of it was of course newly broke and sharp, but there was also a lot of bass on the Beta had been there for years and had been worn down smooth by it's time on the beach, rolled around on rocks by the waves. I decided to keep this glass because it was quite decorative and different. before I knew it I was going almost every day to the beach to pick up this smooth glass and it was everywhere there was tons of it, all colours from seafoam, clear, green, yellow, brown and when it became a little more specialised later in my life, red purple blue and some even rainbow coloured.

After a year I had amassed such a collection but I thought it was time I started making something with it, and what I have is my job of making sea glass pendants using wire and basic glass I found the beach. I've even managed to sell a few.

My support worker once said to me "Chris, whether you go out and train to become a lion tamer, or you strike up a conversation with the lamppost outside, just get off your backside and do SOMETHING". And I will always remember this conversation because there is a day after I first went to the beach.

I've become something of a specialist in sea glass now and I love nothing more than going to beaches and picking up small round glass that I can make into something pretty. The other advantage of going to the beach is that it's very solitary, especially in the winter months so I can get lost in my little world in a few hours.

[pulisa]

That is a wonderful post, Chris. You've gone from total inertia to becoming creative and designing original sea glass pendants which you can sell! It's a very inspirational story and your achievement is all the more remarkable considering how low you were.

Thanks so much for sharing and I hope you enjoy the beach more and more as Winter approaches.

[Violet Blue]

Great post, Chris.

I too live in a lot of solitude which is fine, though as we all know balance in everything is key, and you can certainly have too much of a good thing.

I love what the support worker said "have a chat with a lamppost for all I care!" but that's the message - bloody get out there. Too many people feed their own issues with staying in and wallowing away on the internet, but you've done something really constructive and creative. Well done.

I don't live near the sea, but I do have a car and beautiful countryside around me, and so I find going out with my camera and taking pictures very relaxing - I think it's just being able to forget how you're feeling and really focus on the image you're taking. I imagine it must be the same for you, searching through the sand for your treasure. And then your brain starts to realise it can feel normal, if only you step aside from it.
xxx

[MyNameIsTerry]

I love what the support worker said "have a chat with a lamppost for all I care!"

But what if it talks back?

[pulisa]

That would be illuminating!

Great post, Violet Blue and very true.