LauderBlog
Oct 9: Long Day's Journey
Posted On: October 9, 2008 11:50 AM
Posted By: LauderBLOGGER
Related Subjects: Greater Fort Lauderdale
Sometimes I just need to get away for a while. I really do. These days I mostly work alone, writing, making phone calls, firing off emails, answering phone calls, researching, thinking about phone calls I’ll have to make or answer. Just like most you in some ways probably. I worked around a lot of people in newsrooms for many years and the feeling wasn’t all that different in this one respect – I often just had to escape the chaos after a long day and find somewhere relaxing. I think it’s healthy to unwind after work. Lately, I’ve also been organizing this huge anti-bullying youth march for my nonprofit group, which has added a massive new layer of answering and researching and firing off and all the rest. And in turn, all this has only made the need for relaxation more important.
In the past several days, I’ve discovered a new release for me. When I’m done for the afternoon, I put my car’s convertible top down, drive east from my Dania Beach condo about a mile to the sea, then head a couple miles south to the Hollywood Broadwalk. There’s plenty of metered parking just steps from the walkway. And in the late afternoon, the buildings offer great swaths of cool shade.
I was there again last night, pulling up to a parking spot sometime after 5 or so. The sea was rolling in on small round waves and the sun was warm but not uncomfortable. Five minutes after leaving my home, I was walking beside the Atlantic Ocean and looking for a pleasant bench for my destressing. The pretty brick Broadwalk is wide enough to easily handle all the walkers and the bike path is great for the joggers and roller bladers and bicyclists. I found a nice shaded wooden bench and sat down to smell the salt air and listen to the waves for a while. I must have been smiling because people passing by often looked my way and smiled as though reacting to my expression. I closed my eyes for a short time and just tried to be fully there, in that moment, absorbing all those smells and sounds and letting go of all those calls and emails. It didn’t work completely, but it helped. When I returned to my car after 40 minutes by the ocean, I felt different – much the way I do after a hot shower following a gym session. I was cleaner, not outside but inside. And I was ready to go back home so I could answer all those emails and phone calls I’d missed.
In the past several days, I’ve discovered a new release for me. When I’m done for the afternoon, I put my car’s convertible top down, drive east from my Dania Beach condo about a mile to the sea, then head a couple miles south to the Hollywood Broadwalk. There’s plenty of metered parking just steps from the walkway. And in the late afternoon, the buildings offer great swaths of cool shade.
I was there again last night, pulling up to a parking spot sometime after 5 or so. The sea was rolling in on small round waves and the sun was warm but not uncomfortable. Five minutes after leaving my home, I was walking beside the Atlantic Ocean and looking for a pleasant bench for my destressing. The pretty brick Broadwalk is wide enough to easily handle all the walkers and the bike path is great for the joggers and roller bladers and bicyclists. I found a nice shaded wooden bench and sat down to smell the salt air and listen to the waves for a while. I must have been smiling because people passing by often looked my way and smiled as though reacting to my expression. I closed my eyes for a short time and just tried to be fully there, in that moment, absorbing all those smells and sounds and letting go of all those calls and emails. It didn’t work completely, but it helped. When I returned to my car after 40 minutes by the ocean, I felt different – much the way I do after a hot shower following a gym session. I was cleaner, not outside but inside. And I was ready to go back home so I could answer all those emails and phone calls I’d missed.
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