“For whatever we lose like a you or a me, its always ourselves we find in the sea' - EE Cummings

How can one ever know the deep significance that a single quote can carry until they have truly discovered the meaning hidden within that quote?

It wasn't until I happened upon this quote 2 years ago that I was provoked to think about the significance that the sea has had on my life.

Growing up in Tasmania, an island off the bottom of Australia, I have always been surrounded by the sea. The ocean has been a part of my life since I was born. Mother Nature is at her finest in Tasmania. The seasons are distinct, summer is short followed by the orange and red hues of autumn and winter hits you quickly and without much warning. The winds are fierce and icy. The ocean turns ferocious and for months on end all you can do is dream of the day that summer will arrive again. For the lucky ones, an escape up north or overseas becomes an annual ritual to escape the grey skies and incessant rain.

Surfing in Tasmania exposes you more than anything else directly to these fierce elements. It's not unusual to have to hike to the beach with all your gear psyching yourself up to hit the waves because you know that the freezing water temperature will chill you to the bones if you are unprepared both physically and emotionally. When your body hits the water as you enter the ocean you have to paddle fast to keep your limbs moving. In some lonelier places you are often the only person out there in the ocean, surfing with the mountains towering above you and your company a lonely gull, as he circles above in the sky looking for his next feed.

This lifestyle is definitely not for those who love long warm summers and tropical waters, who dream of escaping every winter to spend months on end surfing clear water and soaking up the winter sun on a grassy headland while eating fresh fruit. For so long I dreamed of warm winter days where the swell was consistent and I could longboard to my hearts content. I dreamt of integrating myself into local surfing communities, meeting people who had lived through the early days of surfing and I dreamt of all the stories they would share with me. I dreamt of paddling into the ocean, smiling and laughing in just a bikini or short wetsuit and catching waves off a point, wave after wave after wave after wave.

And then one day I woke up and I just stopped dreaming. And instead of dreaming I just did it! I designed my life so that I could spend my summers at home in Tasmania and escape north to the NSW coast for the rest of the year. I designed my life so I could move from town to town regularly, a life where my itchy feet would always be satisfied. A life where I could choose to be somewhere warm, where there was always a wave and most winter days were sunny and I could lay on that grassy headland after a surf feeling happy and smiling up at the sky.

It has now been almost 3 years since I designed this life. I am the happiest, the healthiest, the most content I have been in my whole life. I wake up every single morning excited for what the day will bring, and at the end of every day I feel gratitude for being blessed with the moments that make up this beautiful life.

The sea life truly has me enveloped in her heart. The sea is my heart. And I now fully understand from deep within my soul that 'Whatever we lose, like a you or a me, It's always ourselves we find in the sea'.