Shrugged, smiled

I stood there for a good 30 min. Feet planted in the wet sand, feeling the frigid ocean waves on my ankles.

Felt small looking into the raging ocean.
Recognized how small I am.
Realized once again, how insignificant my accomplishments and busyness and worries truly are.

I remembered what little I did chase after, and how it all didn’t matter if I was neglecting what was before me in the present. The tasks set before me. The people in my life who cared for me. Those who love me. Have I tended to my present moment well? Am I living well? Now. Not tomorrow.

Thrill of the chase, dissipated by the seconds of my short life, grasping for the heights but actually catching nothing.

And then from a distance, a woman yells at me, telling me I’m standing in a restricted area. I shrugged, smiled, said nothing and walked away.

She was a tourist like me.