Riding the Waves of Reality

We all know the ebb and flow of life. The highs and the lows. The waves of stress coming at us and the lull before another one hits.

We were swimming in the Sea of Cortes this morning, just riding the slow roll of gorgeous Mazatlán waters when a series of pretty big waves came through causing my husband and I to dive deep to avoid being swallowed by their power. With each dive we did I started to see the metaphor of what I was experiencing in real time with what we go through as human beings living on this complicated earth. 

When we see a mammoth wave approach we have immediate choices. Swim out to meet it and hopefully ride right over the crest before it breaks or dive down and wait for it to pass? Swimming further out to meet this beast was not what I choose to do. Too scary to be further from the shore than I already was. I decided to dive beneath it. When I dove, I felt the current, the crash of the wave and the power of the tide. When I surfaced, I had a profound sense of relief that monster had past, and I could come up for air. I can’t help but to think about that is exactly what some of us do when crisis strikes our lives. Rise up to meet it or duck down and wait for it to pass.

In December of 2024 we (our family) endured a crisis. Our comfortable life as we knew it was upended financially, and we lost our business and our house in bankruptcy.  A monster wave that came right at us and even though we saw it coming, we tried everything we could to avoid it. We did NOT swim out to meet it. We did NOT dive down and let it just pass. We let it hit us head on, turn us around, flip us upside down, slam us against the hard sand and make us feel like we were drowning.  We have since learned. Both my husband and I have endured horrible crisis and terrible tragedy before we met but this one, we faced together. It was as comforting as a warm sun on your face but equally as scary that as a team we could get torn apart while drowning. 

We dove under those massive waves 4 or 5 times before I got the feeling it was time to retreat. This beach in particular has 15’ waves on a normal day. A current that can sweep you off your feet no matter how planted you think you are. I thought…this is my window to get out safely. 

As soon as we were ankle deep the series of massive waves had passed, and the ocean was back to being tranquil and calm. I could not go back in. I watched the waves crash peacefully for another 10 minutes before I decided I made the right choice. Perhaps it was the lesson I already learned. To take a minute and watch the tide before risking it all for the sake of riding the waves.

Sarah Ruiz